


A Curious Expedition

by Squickqueen, Talimee



Category: Rise of the Planet of the Apes (Movies)
Genre: Adventure & Romance, Alternate Universe - Jungle, Curious Expedition AU, F/M, Interspecies Relationship(s), Interspecies Sex, Light Angst, M/M, Mild Hurt/Comfort, Slow Burn, Some Humor, Translation, Violence, one-sided Caesar/Koba, the colonel is still an ass, trashy 50s pulp fiction story
Language: English
Status: In-Progress
Published: 2019-09-06
Updated: 2020-06-07
Packaged: 2020-10-11 01:27:10
Rating: Mature
Warnings: Graphic Depictions Of Violence
Chapters: 6
Words: 28,705
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/20537897
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squickqueen/pseuds/Squickqueen, https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talimee/pseuds/Talimee
Summary: Things were simple for the expedition members: Map out a dangerous and uncharted jungle, rescue missing Prof. William Rodman on the fly, gain adventure, fame and glory!No one had warned them about the jungle's hidden secret, that possessed the power to shatter their world!





	1. Welcome to Hell

**Author's Note:**

  * For [Idonquixote](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Idonquixote/gifts).
  * Translation into Español available: [Una curiosa expedición](https://archiveofourown.org/works/23784613) by [Squickqueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squickqueen/pseuds/Squickqueen), [SSminos](https://archiveofourown.org/users/SSminos/pseuds/SSminos)
  * A translation of [Eine wunderliche Expedition](https://archiveofourown.org/works/20340082) by [Squickqueen](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Squickqueen/pseuds/Squickqueen). 

> All hail to [Talimee](https://archiveofourown.org/users/Talimee) for beta-reading (and overall turning this thing into something readable) as well as translating *throws confetti*

The raptor was a surprise.

Especially since its brothers and sisters had been extinct for millions of years.

Every child knew this for a fact.

The scientific expedition, currently slugging their way through the jungle's impenetrable undergrowth, knew this for a fact and so did their leader, Dr. Malcolm MacDonald. The raptor, however, couldn't care less about this as it crashed into their way, very sudden and very much alive.

It stopped as if running into an invisible wall as it spotted the humans. Its head jerked up in surprise, the feathery down along its neck rose visibly and in its eyes, the elongated, slitted pupils narrowed to a slot.

Was it equally surprised to meet humans here, at this most remote of all places? After all, every raptor knew that humanity had destroyed itself. It was common knowledge!

For a short moment, time stood still as present and past collided with each other. Reptile eyed mammal, mammal eyed reptile – and somewhere deep down in their bones they felt the perpetual rivalry of their species.

The raptor righted itself on its hind-legs, suddenly on eye-level with the humans. Its nostrils flared, its stare honed down on the interlopers who had dared to challenge the jungle! Its sickle-like claws popped out, it roared – teeth, so many teeth! – and bolted at them.

Rooted on the spot, Malcolm gripped his rifle and could do nothing but stare at death as it sprinted up to him.

_Do something, Malcolm! MALCOLM!!_

Suddenly a bang blew through the jungle like nothing ever before. An ungodly force tore the raptor off its feet in mid-run; it fell, it stumbled and slid to a halt in front of Malcolm's boots. The expedition leader gaped at the fallen reptile, his teeth ground jaw-achingly together, staring as the raptor thrashed on the ground, gouging dirt and grass in its death throes. Its movements ceased rapidly, blood gushed freely from its body to the ground.

Malcolm started breathing again. The air smelled of jungle – earth, humidity, and decay – mixed with the metal tang of blood. Regardless of how often he had faced death and injury in previous expeditions, he could never grow accustomed to the smell of blood.

He took a step back from the raptor's feebly snapping maw, just to bump into the man who had just saved his life. He was tall and broad-shouldered, spouting a beard that stood in contrast to his clean-shaven skull. Blue eyes drilled into Malcolm, as cold as the raptor's eyes had been. They spoke of an irrepressible will and a leaning towards cruelty, and yet something fascinating lay in the cold gaze that was hard to resist.

As if the layers of frost and ice were burrowing the heat of a volcano.

„You fancy yourself fodder, MacDonald?!“ he snapped and shoved the expedition leader aside to crouch down next to the dying raptor. Without so much as a flicker, he took out his hunting knife and slit the animal's throat.

J. Wesley „Colonel“ McCullough.

How the passionate big game hunter had acquired the nickname no one could say, but the story most certainly contained a shock full of hard men, wild animals, and hair-raising adventures, Malcolm guessed, before his knees suddenly turned to butter and he sank to the ground. McCullough only sneered at him, absent-mindedly wiping his knife clean before sheathing it and taking a deep gulp of whisky from his hip-flask. The man did not only shoot like the devil, no, he smoked and drank like one as well!

„Hey! You!“ the Colonel bellowed at their bearers who huddled nearby and looked ready to bolt at any moment. Only the thought of their salary made them hesitate. „Fetch me a rope, now!“

A rope was brought forward and the men withdrew instantly, as the Colonel slung it with sure motions around the dead raptor's feet and hoisted it up on the next tree. He put a pipe in his mouth, pulled tobacco and lighter from his breast-pocket, then started to skin the animal, smoking contentedly and with all the signs of enjoyment.

Malcolm had to look away.

Even though he had travelled all corners of the world on behalf of the venerable explorers' society _Ubique Terrarum_, witnessing – and sometimes participating in – the bloodiest and strangest hunting rites, he was revolted by the perverse pleasure of a big game hunter who only killed for his enjoyment.

„Everything all right, Malcolm?“

_Lovely, precious Ellie_, Malcolm thought, as his wife knelt down next to him and handed him a flask of water. She reached up to his head, soothing her fingers through his thick, black curls. _What would I do without you?_

Originally trained as a nurse and baptized on the fields of the last great war, the gifted artist had accompanied him for the last ten years on all his expeditions. She had filled stacks of notepads with sketches of animals and plants, landscapes, buildings, and people. Entire lost civilisations had been restored to a second life in scientific journals or exhibitions thanks to her swift hands and keen eyes. Malcolm and Ellie were a well-rehearsed team of professionals. Even their marriage had not changed that.

„Everything's fine. I was just startled.“ And lo! he even managed a weak smile.

Regardless of his words, Ellie swiftly checked him over and only after she had satisfied herself that he was unharmed, she gave him a peck on his temple and rose to her feet again, watching McCullough's bloody handcraft with a deep frown etched on her face.

„My darling husband, please explain to me once more, why we took on this brute for our expedition?“

Malcolm wiped his mouth with the back of his hand and followed her gaze to where the dead raptor hung from the tree.

„That's why.“

***

The expedition into the undiscovered jungle called _Green Hell_ in scientific circles had been cursed from the very start. And it was supposed to be Malcolm MacDonald's masterpiece! Neither the icy regions of North and South Pole nor the Sahara's heat or the ever-pervading sultriness of the Amazon had intimidated him when he travelled their regions on _Ubique Terrarum's_ commission. Only the _Green Hell_ had evaded him so far.

„No, MacDonald,“ the old ladies and gentlemen at the society had said and ponderously shaken their heads when he tried to explain the plans for his expedition. „The _Green Hell_ devours men and material alike! We have tried often enough to bend it to our will but none of our expeditions have ever returned. Remember Professor Rodman's journey!“

How could he ever forget? Malcolm had been a fresh lad of fifteen when the world-renowned adventurer announced his intentions to conquer the _Green Hell_, this place that still thwarted humanity at every turn. Malcolm had devoured all books about Professor Rodman: His discovery of the gate to the mysterious kingdom of Shambhala, his journey around the world in a submarine and the subsequent finding of the Rodman-Tunnel, now named after him. Not to mention his meetings with the most brilliant minds of their age and his countless excavations around the globe.

Twenty years ago, humanity would've thought Rodman capable of reaching the moon. Instead, he had mounted an expedition into the _Green Hell_ from which no one returned.

All of Malcolm's arguments and pleas had been fruitless, _Ubique Terrarum_ had stayed firm and in the end, Malcolm had grudgingly accepted that the society would not back his expedition. He never stopped dreaming, though. For five long years, Ellie and he searched for an investor for their expedition into the _Green Hell_, and at last a friend of a friend introduced him to Caroline Rodman.

The elderly lady had received them in her villa at the outskirts of town; a silver-haired woman of sixty now, she held herself like a queen even though sorrow had left deep traces on her face. Over a cup of bitter tea and dry digestives, she directly came to the point: „I want my husband back, Dr. MacDonald. He's been lost for 25 years in this wretched jungle, which they call the _Green Hell_. For 25 years, they've told me that William is dead. But he is not. I know it! You want to subdue that jungle? I will help you if you bring back my husband.“

_Deluded old biddy!_

Still, Malcolm had gladly accepted her money and raised an expedition. They had sailed up to the jungle's outskirts, where Malcolm had hoped to hire locals for help. Easier said than done! As soon as the villagers heard about his plan they lost interest, even turning hostile in some places.

„The expedition is doomed without native help.“

Ellie had closed the mosquito net before she lowered herself next to Malcolm onto the small but astonishingly comfortable camp bed. They had tried to find bearers for days, and without success so far.

„How are we going to convince people to help us? They obviously fear the jungle. They talk about the _Green Hell_ as if it was a living being!“ He had wound his arm around her shoulders.

„You'll find your way, Malcolm. Be like the water that wears away the hardest stone.“

Malcolm had laughed. „Ellie, we don't have that much time.“ Then he had kissed his wife and put out the lights.

In the end, their perseverance had paid off – along with a huge wage, partially paid in advance, that proved too powerful for the young men of the latest village to resist. It promised a life in moderate luxury for all of them, if they survived the trip into the _Green Hell_.

Colonel McCullough had not bothered to hide his disdain.

„I don't care what you do with your money, Mr. MacDonald“, he had said while watching the elated locals with a look between disgust and pity. „Personally, I would've singed their hides with a bullet, made the rest of them fall into line.“

Needless to say that all joy drained from their bearers' faces immediately.

Listening to the hunter talk like that made Malcolm seriously doubt whether the man was the right one for their expedition. On the other hand, no other big game hunter had even considered Malcolm's offer to join them. Not only among scientists had the _Green Hell_ a reputation of being a place only fit for madmen and those tired of life.

Parting from the village behind schedule but entertaining high hopes, they had entered the jungle on several canoes, following one of the _Serpent River's_ countless branches until rapids and waterfalls made passage impossible and they had to abandon the river and their canoes in favour of paving their way through the thick underbrush with their machetes. Here, McCullough had proven his worth for the first time. He had hacked and slashed his way through the thicket as unrelenting and forceful as if he was fighting a personal war against it.

A week had passed now since they had bid the _Serpent River_ goodbye and the terrain had only grown steadily more impassable. Dark clouds of mosquitoes hovered around them by day and night, coveting their blood just like the fat black leeches that sucked on their skin. The oppressive humidity lay on their sweat-coated bodies like an immoveable weight, made breathing nigh impossible and pushed even the Colonel to the brink of physical exhaustion. They had had to wrestle the _Green Hell_ for every yard they advanced and sometimes they had lost this yard again when their path led them to a swamp or a sheer cliff of rock. They had found no respite because this Mother of Jungles was merciless to unwelcome trespassers.

Bearers started to disappear, mostly overnight. Wild animals? Probably. Even more possible was that they suffered from kleptomania, stole some of their rations and then legged it away to safety. This way the expedition had already lost several cans of beans and bars of chocolate.

The rest of them felt their substance crumble away, physically and mentally.

And then the compass needle had gone haywire. Malcolm hadn't been able to explain this phenomenon until Ellie pointed out the strange blue colour of some of the surrounding rocks. Magnetic Mountains! Of all things!

Did this whole damned forest conspire against them?

The very earth itself had seemed to want to get rid itself of them because one morning an earthquake shook the jungle. Deep cracks had suddenly blocked their way and had forced them to swerve into more mountainous terrain. It had steadily gone higher and higher, along narrow paths, followed by a constant fear of rock slides and plunging to their deaths.

And then the raptor had suddenly appeared and nearly gored Malcolm.

„You should probably turn back if you're shitting your pants, _Dr._ MacDonald.“ The Colonel didn't curb his mocking. In his opinion, Malcolm and Ellie were nothing more than weak scientists, better suited to sit behind a desk or in a library than being in a jungle. His strain on Malcolm's title just underlined how little he thought of both explorers.

He defied the _Green Hell_ and wore the raptor's sickle-like claws as an open declaration of victory around his neck. The raptor's skin was stretched across a crate. McCullough's arrogance regarding the jungle was as unbearable as it was boundless!

Maybe the Colonel was right, Malcolm though in the privacy of his head. Maybe he had found his master in the _Green Hell_. No one could blame him if he called off the expedition to save his life and that of the others.

Apart from his pride as an explorer.

„Just until we reach the top“, Ellie proposed that evening when they were sitting at the campfire, sipping grog and stirring around in their cans of beans. Everyone loathed this slop by now, and their bearers would have possibly left them by now if not for the whisky. „Then we'll see where we are and can decide if we turn back.“

She took his hand and gave it a squeeze. Malcolm nodded. Yes, the summit was not far of. They could make it!

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Two things that may be in need of an explanation:
> 
> * Curious Expedition is a rogue-like, adventure computer-game by "Maschinen-Mensch" and lends the setting for this story (https://curious-expedition.com/index2.html). Yes, there are canned beans, chocolate and raptors. =3
> 
> * Ubiquem Terrarum is the title of a series of adventure novels by Herbert Kranz centered around a fictional team of six that works for the London-based society "Ubique Terrarum", doing research-assigments and helping people. (http://ubique-terrarum.de/ubique-terrarum.html)
> 
> Malcolm is a mix of the "Dawn" and the "Conquest" Malcolm. Hence the name MacDonald. =3


	2. The Pride of Creation

**Chapter 2 - The Pride of Creation**

The sun rose early next morning to send its rays through the jungle's leafy canopy. Too early on account of their bearers who grumbled and only reluctantly followed Malcolm's waking call. There had been a refreshing shower of rain during the night and the expedition leader wanted to use the short time span before the day grew too hot to move out. It took only one scowl from the Colonel to silence the bearers. They hadn't forgotten his words at the start of their journey, they had not forgotten who had been cold-blooded enough to kill a raptor.

After a short but rejuvenating breakfast the expedition prepared to further follow the small track along the mountain ridge. They were directly below the summit when Ellie stopped suddenly.

“What's up? Did you see so-- ” Malcolm swallowed the second part of the sentence when his wife bounded up to the cliff wall, raised her machete and began to hack vigorously through the thicket.

“We don't have time for this nonsense, MacDonald”, the Colonel barked. “If you can't keep your wife in line let me handle … What the hell?!”

Behind the thicket that Ellie had expertly cut away appeared a low entrance none of the men had spotted. They exchanged a quick glance.

“Seems your wife is wearing the trousers in your marriage. She can teach you a few things, Doc”, McCullough jeered but every further insult was cut off by Ellie's urgent call.

“Malcolm, you have to see this! I think it's a temple! Hurry up!” Her voice skipped with excitement and when her husband entered the cave after her, carrying his gun, she was already sketching the temple's interior.

“If anyone of you pilfers provisions you'll answer to _me_, understood?”, they heard the Colonel snarl outside before the man bowed through the temple's entrance, rifle aimed and at the ready. It was not hard to guess whom he had been talking to.

Even though it looked as if no one had set foot in here for a long time, the small temple was still in excellent condition. Light pierced the room through unseen crevices and the all-encompassing overgrowth of moss and lichen, illuminating the numerous grimacing masks, stone effigies and fetishes made of straw, feathers or bone. Although simple in its construction, the temple stood witness to the rich and unique culture of its builders.

This meant nothing to McCullough, though, who carelessly picked up one of the stone figures as it caught his eye, heedless of its age. At first glance the object's raging maw and wild expression reminded him of a gorilla he had tracked for days during his last safari. The beast had been clever and had evaded him time and time again but in the end human intellect had prevailed over animal instincts. It had been good hunt!

At a second glance he discovered the chain of teeth the figure was wearing around its neck and the sickle-like claw it held in its outstretched hands. Without conscious thought McCullough touched the two claws he was wearing around his own neck. The stone-monkey was holding a raptor's claw!

“Be careful with that, Colonel! These figurines are possibly ancient and undoubtedly of immeasurable scientific value.”

McCullough snorted but put the statue back into its place. Visibly bored, he strolled further into the room until he came to a stop at the very back of it.

“Stop pawing the trinkets and take a look at this”, he called back to the two explorers.

Malcolm and Ellie were speechless, once they had come up to him. The wall in front of them was decidedly different from the rest of the temple: whereas the other walls were made of roughly hewed gray stone, the wall in front of them was pitch black, polished to a sheen and was covered by an enormous mural! The white paint was as vivid as if the picture had been finished only yesterday. The mural depicted two giants, caught in a never ending battle, while around them the world sank into destruction – an ape and a reptile. And right in the middle below the giants was a triangle surrounded by three stars.

“Fascinating!”, Malcolm breathed in admiration. “I wonder what the giants meant for the people who built this shrine. Maybe gods? Or symbols for the eternal fight between good and evil?”

“Maybe forces of nature?”, Ellie threw in. “Those spikes along the reptile's back look a lot like flames.”

“You're right! Then the ape possibly symbolizes water?”

“Or earth? We're in a temple cut into the mountainside, and earthquakes are a common occurrence around here as we've seen … Maybe a mountain god? But I wonder what the triangle stands for.”

Before the two scientists could hatch out more theories the Colonel shouldered his rifle and barged through them on his way to the exit. “If you ask me, this is nothing more than a picture-story to frighten kids. Hurry up with your sketches, Mrs. MacDonald! I don't like this place.”

“You can always turn back if you're shitting your pants, Colonel”, Ellie answered calmly and very unimpressed by his brusque manners. “We're leaving once I'm finished.”

For a moment the Colonel looked as if he wanted to slap her, before he reconsidered and left the temple without another word. Once outside they heard one of the bearers getting punched instead who had the bad fortune to serve as lightning rod for the Colonel's wrath. Ellie winced. That had not been her intention. Her bad conscience didn't last long, though, as she became engrossed in her work again. The two scientists were busy cataloging for hours but by mid-afternoon two of the stone statues and a handful of amulets, bowls and bone-coins were securely packed away for further studies while the rest of the temple had been immortalized in Ellie's sketch book.

Infused with new vigor, and their unplanned pause, the expedition started off again towards the summit when out of the blue another earthquake struck them. They were used to them by now; short shocks had rocked the earth for as long as they had been traveling the _Green Hell_, but this one developed into something entirely different – longer and more violent, climbing in intensity as the seconds ticked by. They scrambled for what little shelter could be found along the narrow path, clinging to the rock with bare hands and desperately trying to stay on their feet. Mountains collapsed around them while others burst from the ground, driven by powers that rendered the watching humans helpless while lava oozed down the newborn slopes like blood, incinerating everything in its path.

_“Malcolm!!"_

Malcolm spun around as Ellie screamed. He threw himself forward and managed to grab her outstretched hands the second the ground broke away under her feet. They locked hands desperately but the hard jolt of her full weight nearly dislodged his shoulders. He wasn't strong enough to lift her up, Malcolm realized in cold dread. Suddenly the Colonel appeared next to him, grabbed Ellie's wrist and hoisted her up like an afterthought.

Not waiting for their thanks, he bellowed: “Move it!” and Malcolm stumbled across the bucking ground like in a nightmare, blindly following the Colonel who lead them through the inferno on a sure-footed instinct that was uncanny.

Boulders tumbled down from above. One of them grazed Malcolm's shoulder and tore fabric and skin to shreds. He fell against the rock, so shocked he didn't register pain and blood at first until his eyes glazed over with darkness. He felt his arm roughly thrown across another man's shoulder and was dragged forwards. The bearers had shed their luggage and one of them had decided to carry the injured scientist instead.

“Our gear!” he managed to croak but knew at the same time that it was impossible to save their lives and their equipment. Their provisions, their precious instruments, _the relics_ – lost forever!

Tears were streaming down Malcolm's face as the smoke from the burning jungle stung his eyes and the sulfuric stench made breathing nigh impossible. The racing pulse of his heart was echoed by the thrumming of pain in his injured arm.

And suddenly the air cleared up.

The ground calmed down and the earthquake was over as abruptly as it had started.

“Keep it up!” the Colonel commanded and they followed his order without a thought. Only once the big game hunter was certain that they had left the burning jungle far enough behind did he permit them to stop. Malcolm's knees had barely touched the ground as Ellie materialized at his side to attend to his wound. The bearers were seated around them, sweating and panting and not entirely convinced by the sudden peace and quiet.

No one said a word. No one wanted to voice aloud what they were all thinking: The MacDonalds had taken things from the temple. Had this been the penalty for the theft? Finally, the Colonel opened his flask and gulped down some of its contents before pushing himself back to his feet.

“Where are you going, Colonel?” Malcolm was ashamed to hear the trembling in his voice.

“Looking around” was the curt answer. “Stay where you are. You'd just be in my way in your condition.”

_Of course,_ Malcolm though bitterly, as the Colonel shouldered the Winchester and vanished into the underbrush. The big game hunter relied on his rifle more than on any of them.

*  


He hadn't gone far when the thick bush around him grew lighter and the Colonel stepped out onto a plateau. He looked down into a wide valley that was protected on all sides by mighty mountain ranges. Like a main artery a river snaked its way through the valley, its waters glittering like scales in the setting sun. Everywhere he looked the jungle's territory was encroached by waterways, grasslands and swamps, making the valley floor a patchwork of green and blue and yellow.

Night had started to move in from the east, and the shadows grew longer while McCullough stood and took in the view, as his attention was caught by bright spots appearing among the trees. He raised his binoculars as: “Beautiful!” He flinched violently and swung the rifle around but it was only the MacDonalds.

“Didn't I tell you to stay where you are?!”, he barked at them, more sharply for the shock still coursing through his body. Then he pushed the binoculars against Malcolm's chest who was wearing his injured arm in a makeshift loop. “Beautiful? What do you think of _that_, Doc?”

Malcolm looked through. He knew instantly what the Colonel meant.

“Looks like torches”, he murmured. “Or bonfires? But no, bonfires usually don't move around … It's people in any case.” Suddenly anxious he chewed the inside of his cheek and lowered the glasses, which Ellie grabbed out of his hands to look through herself. There was always a risk in meeting new cultures, Malcolm knew from experience; sometimes the clans, tribes or villagers welcomed them with open arms, and sometimes with spears and guns at the ready. But, and Malcolm had learned that on his travels as well, most times people were peaceful. Cautious, but peaceful.

“I propose we wait until tomorrow”, he decided. “I can barely wait to meet people who never had contact with the outside world but we need to rest.”

“You really think those savages will help us?”

“I hope so, Colonel, I sincerely hope so. Otherwise, we're doomed.”

“If you say so.” The Colonel took his pipe out of his mouth and relit the tobacco within. “Takin' first watch. Can't risk having our throats slit by some savages and our hides being turned into trophies.”

Memories of the skinned raptor flashed in front of Malcolm's inner eye, how it had been strung up on a tree and bleeding out slowly. No, none of them wanted to end up like this!

*  


No one slept well that night. They were constantly imagining the grating of rock and believed to feel the earth tremble again. A heavy weight was pressing them down, exactly like the feeling before a thunderstorm when all life cowers in silence and even sunlight turns into listless shimmer.

During his watch the Colonel kept an unblinking eye on the torches. Their light lasted all through the night, ceaselessly moving hither and tither without any discernible pattern like bog-lights.

Sunrise was a relief.

When Ellie came to Malcolm in the morning to change his bandages, she discovered to her satisfaction that the wound was healing well and that her husband didn't run a fever. She pecked his forehead relieved.

“Food?”

“Food.”

Breakfast was a dreary affair with a tiny piece of chocolate, some spring water and a handful of overripe fruit for each of them. _Now_ they were longer for canned beans, but those were inaccessibly buried under several tons of rock. Still, they all felt a little bit better after the meal and finally prepared for the descent.

The more they climbed down into the valley the more the _Green Hell_ changed. It grew less infernal and more calm, didn't rebuff the trespassers any longer. The sparse underbrush was crisscrossed by small streams now, and the signs of civilization became too numerous to ignore. Here, some narrow paths were snaking through the bush, were some creeks spanned by primitive bridges and there, colorful flowers and braided bast-amulets adorned some sort of wayshrine.

Ellie couldn't shake the feeling that she had seen those amulets before. Quickly, she leafed through her sketchbook.

“Ha!” she cried triumphantly, nearly pushing her sketchbook up Malcolm's nose who appeared next to her in an instant. “I knew it! The amulets show the same symbol as the mural back in the shrine: A triangle surrounded by three stars.”

“You think it's the same civilization?”

“Highly possible. Isn't this exciting?!”

While the two scientists practically glowed with joyful enthusiasm, their carriers were silent and trying to be as unobtrusive as possible, as if being afraid of being spotted by the beings living in the valley. The Colonel was apprehensive as well. Taking his usual place at the head of the column, he lead them through the less dense underbrush, always keeping an eye on their surroundings. Once in a while he stopped and listened intently. He couldn't shake the feeling of being watched. His neck prickled. Spotting something out of the corner of his eye, he stopped and swung around, the Winchester pointing and ready but his finger froze at the trigger.

There was no enemy.

There wasn't even a living being.

Speechless for a second, the Colonel lowered his rifle.

“What is it, McCullough?” Malcolm and Ellie appeared at his side. And fell silent at the horrific sight ahead of them.

There where three X-shaped crosses, roughly fashioned out of saplings and flagged with raptor-skins. Some were old and brittle, others fresh and stained with dried blood. A warning that could not have been clearer. No force of nature could have done this, this was undoubtedly man-made!

“Goddamn it! Are you sure you want to meet these people, Doc?”

Neither Ellie nor Malcolm answered. Without conscious thought both of them had clutched their guns tighter as if that alone was sufficient enough to calm their frantic hearts. The crosses' violent message had rendered them speechless.

Not so their bearers.

They had spotted the crosses as well and started shouting over each other, backing off from the horrific display beside themselves with terror.

“Shut up!” the Colonel barked. “MacDonald, calm them down or, by God, I'll silence them myself!” He looked ready to follow through with his threat, lifting the butt of his rifle to slam it into the face of the closest man.

He got no opportunity to do so.

A sudden crashing and swooshing in the brushwood nearby was the only warning they got before a raptor broke through the thicket and galloped past the stunned humans without giving them a glance.

_It's mine!_

Even before the thought had manifested itself in his mind the Colonel had cocked the Winchester. The animal neatly within the cross-hairs he noticed more movement out of the corner of his eye. A second raptor thrashed out of the woods, it's maw foaming and stained with blood. It nearly ran into the big game hunter who was saved by his reflexes and a daring jump to the side. Leaves and brushwood swayed shut behind the animals like a curtain, and they were gone.

“What was that?” Malcolm asked baffled.

McCullough didn't answer. Something about the raptors' behavior struck him as odd. The animals hadn't been on a hunt. If he had to put a finger on it he would say that they had been on a flight.

_What from?_

He took a double take. “Where are they?!”

“What the hell are you talking about, Colonel?”

“Malcolm, the bearers!”

Ellie touched his arm and he turned around. There was no sign of the bearers. While they had been distracted, the men had apparently decided that enough was enough and absconded in silence. With the pitiful rest of their gear.

A cold fist clenched around Malcolm's stomach. Ellie blanched. But whatever curse was forming on the Colonel's lips died down as once more the underbrush swooshed and crackled around them. Several riders broke through onto the path this time, bloodied spears in hand and obviously on the hunt for raptors. Their leader let out a piercing yell when he spotted the expedition and reigned in his black horse so suddenly that the animal nearly sat on its haunches as it slid to a halt, snorting like mad and tossing its head.

“Good Lord”, Malcolm murmured.

All the riders were apes!

They sat hunched on their horses' backs, armed with spears, bolas and bows. Their faces were painted in red and white, lending them a truly demonic appearance, while their eyes shone with a terrifying intelligence. Ellie saw chimpanzees and there was even a gorilla!

The fleeing raptors were forgotten and for a moment humans and apes eyed each other, equally astonished to find the other here. Then the apes started moving as McCullough lifted his gun. They screamed in rage.

“Colonel, don't!” Ellie slapped the barrel down. “We don't know … maybe they're peaceful!”

He stared at her as if she was mad.

“Ellie is right”, Malcolm hastily agreed with his wife. “Let's see what they want.”

“Are you insane? I won't wait for these rugs to skin me alive! And if you dare touch my gun again, Mrs. MacDonald …”

“You are speaking our language!”

The Colonel nearly dropped his rifle in surprise. This had happened to him only once before, in South America, when a butterfly chose precisely his nose as a landing spot. Memories of this made his hackles rise. Suddenly angry with himself, he stared grimly up at the apes' leader, who was examining them with interest in return.

“I'll be a monkey's uncle”, the Colonel pressed through clenched teeth. “Did this thing just talk?”

“Colonel! Be quiet for Heaven's sake!” Malcolm hissed, even though surprise nearly rendered him speechless. The scales had finally fallen from the expedition leader's eyes: The mountain temple, the signs of civilization, the crosses bedecked with raptor-skins – those were not the work of humans, but of apes.

_Incredible!_

The apes' leader nudged his horse forward, closing in on them slowly when a second rider spurred his horse between him and the three humans.

“Caesar, careful! Humans, dangerous!” the ape warned and eyed the explorers with open distrust. He was a bonobo, the oldest ape of the group by a wide margin, and horribly disfigured by a scar crossing the left side of his face. A wave of heated signing, huffing and growling between chimpanzee and bonobo followed until the latter finally lowered his head and offered his outstretched hand to _Caesar_, palm up. The chimpanzee stroked across it before the bonobo nudged his horse out of the way.

The chimpanzee mustered the humans from above, his calculating gaze wandering from one to the other as if he only needed one look to gauge their true selves. He was a proud being, that much was clear. In his captivating face, which was painted in red and white like the others and made him look like a ghost, green eyes sparkled; thoughtful, soulful, unbending like the _Green Hell_ itself. He had eyes that had seen a lot. Human eyes.

“Who are you? What are you doing here?” Caesar asked finally, not exactly unfriendly but firm. His voice was rough like the bonobo's but his language was of an astounding eloquence.

Malcolm felt Ellie's hand softly pressing his own. He cleared his throat and met the ape's inquisitive gaze with his own, open and unafraid.

“My name is Malcolm MacDonald, and these are my wife Ellie and --”

“McCullough. _Colonel_ McCullough.”

“We are scientists”, Malcolm hurried to add, retaking control of the conversation when he saw Caesar's forehead wrinkle. The expedition leader chose his next words slowly and very carefully. He had a feeling that if he could convince the leader that they were harmless, the other apes would follow. “We're exploring the _Green Hell_ and found this valley purely by chance. We assume that the earthquake yesterday opened up a path to this place. You must've felt it as well.”

“Lies! Humans want gold, want treasures!” the bonobo yelled enraged.

“There is no gold in this valley, Koba”, Caesar said frankly and Malcolm was prepared to believe him on the spot. When the chimpanzee didn't say more, he continued: “We lost our provisions and our gear. Can you help us? We come in peace and mean no harm.”

To reinforce his words he put his rifle on the ground. Ellie followed his example.

“McCullough, do it!” Malcolm hissed when the Colonel made no move to lower his gun. His hands were gripping the Winchester so hard that his knuckles were white. The big game hunter refused to believe what his eyes and ears were telling him. Talking animals? Apes who rode horses and carried weapons? How could nature allow such creatures to exist?! Wasn't humanity the pride of creation?

Shaken to the core of his beliefs the Colonel felt rage and blank refusal rise up in him.

“Only idiots disarm themselves”, he snarled. “I wouldn't trust these stinking animals even if they cited Shakespeare!”

Malcolm blanched at these words. He opened his mouth but whatever he wanted to say to the big game hunter was drowned in the apes' enraged screams. Their fur on end, they brandished their spears and it didn't miss much and Koba would've thrust his spear between the Colonel's ribs.

Then Caesar lifted his hand.

And the ruckus died down.

The chimpanzee rode slowly up to McCullough, not caring about Koba who was close to going mad behind him. Every part of the bonobo's body screamed to keep his leader safe from the humans but Caesar's word was law. It was binding, even for him.

Caesar stopped his horse next to McCullough who stubbornly refused to step aside. For moment he looked down at the man who challenged his gaze before he pointed at the raptor's claws dangling from the Colonel's throat and, with a hint of arrogance, said: “You decorate yourself with raptor claws and are still the most pathetic hunter I have ever seen.”

The Colonel was struck dumb by this and Caesar seized the opportunity to turn the proverbial knife in the wound. “A good hunter knows when to change tactics to reach his goal. But you”, Caesar snorted in disgust, “you only think straight ahead. Raptors are clever and cunning. A hunter must be flexible and has to adapt his tactics if he ever wants to kill them. You will not survive your next encounter with a raptor.”

The Colonel understood loud and clear what Caesar wanted to tell him as well.

_Adjust your conduct, or you will die here and now._

Chimpanzee and human stared at each other, and for a moment everything around them was forgotten. Cool blue met vibrant green in a silent battle between two strong wills. A memory swam to the forefront of the Colonel's mind. A hunt in a jungle. Hadn't it been just like that back then? Didn't he kill that gorilla only after he tuned in to the animal and changed his course of action?

A sudden hot prickle, a coarse mixture of animosity and respect, lodged itself deep into the roots of McCullough's spine and spread from there through his whole body. In Caesar, he grudgingly had to admit, he had met someone who was equal to him.

He let out a humorless laugh. Then he lowered the Winchester and held it out to Caesar. When the ape reached out to take it, the Colonel kept his grip for a moment.

“I'm a big game hunter, little monkey. I kill _animals_, don't forget that”, he threatened and finally let go of the rifle.

“I have hunted raptors ever since I could throw a spear. What do you think I will do to someone like you?” Caesar countered and shouldered the rifle. After a short, snarled order of him one of the chimpanzees lead two horses up to the humans before picking up Malcolm's and Ellie's rifles.

“Get up”, Caesar ordered curtly. “We lost two hunters today. Your luck – otherwise you would have walked.”

His nonchalant way to speak of their losses disgusted Ellie. Maybe that was the reason why she asked defiantly: “Where are you taking us?”

“To _Water Curtain Cave_. I cannot decide if you can stay and if we will help you. Only _Alpha_ can decide that.”

“Caesar! Don't trust humans! Humans dangerous!”, Koba interrupted but Caesar only shook his head.

“You should know better, Koba. How often has my father's medicine helped you?”

Malcolm and Ellie exchanged stunned looks as they understood the consequences of Caesar's words. “Your father is human?”

“We are not related by blood but he raised me. He arrived here as part of an expedition as well, that is why I believe your story.” A shadow flitted across Caesar's face. “Do not expect a warm welcome. He has always feared the day when someone discovers his whereabouts and tries to bring him back home.”

“Malcolm!” Ellie whispered exited. “Could it be …” But Malcolm had had the same thought.

“Your father, Caesar – what's his name?”

The chimpanzee wrinkled his forehead and puffed his cheeks impatiently.

“Will. Will Rodman.”

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> The adventure continues! And pop-culture apes and reptiles are still going strong. =3
> 
> "Water Curtain Cave" is a name taken from the english translation of "Journey to the West". If you get the chance to read it - whether in the chinese original or in translation - do it. It's an awesome story!


	3. Water Curtain Cave

Without further ado Caesar led them out of the underbrush and onto a wide plain. Once there, he urged his horse into a light trot which brought them shortly up to the banks of the very river Malcolm had spied through his binoculars the evening before. A sudden jolt of their horse made him steady himself on Ellie, who turned back to him and patted his hand.

“Everything fine?”

“Yes.”

It had bugged Ellie at first that the Colonel had hogged one of the two horses for himself without so much as a 'by your leave' and left Malcolm and her to share the other one but by now she was glad of that. It made it easier for her to check on her husband's wound. Regardless of what Malcolm insisted, the longer their ride went on, the worse his condition became and they had been following the river for hours already.

She had tried to strike up a conversation with the apes at first but they had ignored her efforts and she had given up. But now, sensing Malcolm's feverish heat at her back, she had to try again: “Caesar, please, could we stop for a minute? Just a moment. Malcolm is injured – feverish even – and I want to redress his wound.”

Nothing. No answer, not even a grunt.

“Leave it”, the Colonel rumbled from the side. The man was riding his bay horse with such ease as if he was one with the animal. Ellie envied him fiercely. Her back and thighs were hurting like hell because of the unfamiliar and long trot. “You can't expect compassion from a pack of animals.”

The Colonel's words managed to do what Ellie's had not: They got attention, though not the kind Ellie had been hoping for.

Koba muscled his horse between them so roughly and suddenly that their mounts whinnied and kicked in shock. The bonobo snarled, baring his fangs and screeched at them furiously. Ellie cowered away, instinctively lifting her arm to shield herself from the impending attack. But it did not come. A chimp, a wiry hunter whose nose and ears were pierced with small bones and tiny pieces of wood, buffed the end of his spear into Koba's side and scoffed: “Koba. How old? Bawling like baby!”

The ensuing snarling and screeching went back and forth until Caesar curbed their argument with a rough bark. The Colonel raised an eyebrow and exchanged a look with Ellie.

_Didn't I say so? Animals._

Ellie ignored him. She fervently wished the man would stop adding fuel to the fire. Koba hated them with every fiber of his scarred body and as soon as Caesar withdrew his protection the bonobo would rip out their throats, Ellie was sure. McCullough had to see that as well. The man wasn't stupid!

Malcolm moved faintly behind her.

“Perhaps it's the fever and I'm seeing things”, he murmured, “but what is that ahead of us?”

“What do you mean?”

She followed his outstretched finger and spotted what he saw a moment later: Way ahead of them, on a hill and hugging the flanks of a massive mountain range that endlessly spanned the horizon, towered a construction that couldn't possibly be of natural origin. She would have loved to have a closer look at it through her binoculars but she didn't dare reach for her backpack; too easily her movements could be misinterpreted by the apes around her!

The Colonel raised a hand to shade his eyes. For a few moments he held the position then he let the limb sink back down.

“A palisade”, he concluded.

“How can you possibly know that? Everything, I see is …”

“I just have the superior eyesight”, he interrupted her snidely. “Better take care that you don't lose your husband and leave the scouting to me.”

Ellie's cheeks flushed with ire. At any other given moment she would have stood up against the Colonel but Malcolm's head did sink against her should at precisely that moment. It was more important to look after his health than having a spat with a man like the Colonel. Also, wasn't it a more prudent course of action to show a united front to the apes? Ellie swallowed her animosity and kept silent.

As they closed in on the structure, the noises of their horses and the surrounding landscape filled up with an increasingly louder roaring and thunder. Ellie was only able to pinpoint its source when they had climbed the hill upon which the edifice was built.

_A waterfall!_

They must be nearing that _Water Curtain Cave_ Caesar had spoken of!

Ellie was eager to see what kind of encounters would lay in store for them there but she had to be patient because the simple, unpaved path they were following now, climbed the hill in long, narrow serpentine roads. The hill might not have been much more than a foothill in comparison to the mountain range behind it but its incline was steep and more taxing to their horses than the long trot across the plains had ever been. Ellie and, especially her butt, was very grateful when Caesar allowed his hunters and their animals a slower walk.

Again and again the pathway led them through smaller and bigger patches of woodland whose leafy canopies shielded the mountains and the mysterious construct from their view. Finally, they reached the hilltop and left forests and slope behind. Ellie sighed discontentedly.

The building was indeed a palisade!

It was tall, constructed from sturdy logs and bristling with archers. In front of it and a visible border between then the _Green Hell_ and ape-controlled country, ran a patch of bare earth that was sparsely populated by hardened grasses eking out a living under the constant barrage of the elements.

Behind the palisade mountains dominated the sky, scraggy, almost black rock. On its slopes, bushes and trees were fighting a silent battle for sunlight and nutrients. Where there could not find enough to sustain them, mosses and lichen took their place. But the most impressive feature was the waterfall that thundered down the slopes and smothered the rock beneath it with primordial force.

A double row of sharpened stakes ran along the palisade, pointing outwards and looking deadly enough to kill a raging elephant bull. Though, they were not meant for elephants, the Colonel concluded as he leaned forward and absentmindedly patted the sweat-slick neck of his horse. He had noted the spanned hides and piles of bones with interest that adorned the palisade at regular intervals. These stakes were meant for raptors.

Malcolm and Ellie watched this barbaric defense with apprehension. Were these apes after all the cruel savages as which the Colonel had described them? And if so, how likely was it for them to survive this adventure?

A shudder ran visibly through Ellie and she averted her gaze. The apes ignored her. They were sitting on their mounts, waiting for the gate in the palisade to open for the group.

McCullough wrenched his gaze from the palisade and examined the apes around him. He had watched them already during the ride: how they rode, how they communicated with each other, which weapons they had – he had searched for a weak spot, any weak spot, in their ranks. But he hadn't been able to find any.

What he saw now was the exhaustion in the apes' posture, old and new scars on their bodies, blood on skin and fur. And below that? An irresistible joy to finally coming home! If circumstances had been different, McCullough might have recognized how familiar this view of tired and exhausted warriors returning home was to him. Instead he righted himself on his horse and spat on the ground.

“_Water Curtain Cave?_”, he remarked dryly and loud enough to carry. “More like _Water Curtain Fortress_.”

As expected, Caesar turned around to him. The Winchester was still slung across his back but now the chimp demonstratively straightened it before turning his gaze back forward where someone was finally starting to open the gate. They could hear creaking wood and huffing apes.

“Well spotted. If not for the palisade the raptors would just overwhelm us.”

“They're attacking you?”, Malcolm chipped in.

“Yes. When they enter a blood lust nothing can stop them. Why are you surprised? Is this uncommon behavior?”

Malcolm wiped his hand tiredly across his sweat slicked forehead. It was Ellie who answered for him: “Isn't it odd that raptors should throw themselves head-on to their own death? No animal would act that way! They'd try another way or let it be.”

Their horse danced out of the way as Koba's suddenly appeared next to it.

“Blood lust. Raptors. Stop thinking. Kill apes. Nothing else important!”, the bonobo growled at them. Malcolm and Ellie both only managed to hold his glare for a second before looking away.

“Koba is right. There is nothing out of the ordinary in the attacks. Raptors are wild animals. No one knows why they do the things they do. It is just the way of nature. We hunt them and they hunt us since time immemorial.”

Finally, the gate ahead creaked open, slowly and only wide enough for the riders to enter the stronghold in single file. When it was time for the MacDonalds to pass the gate they were seized by a daunting feeling. A mix of instinctive mistrust and curiosity. This place, they suddenly realized, had only been seen by one other human before. But maybe the archers' dark looks accounted for their unease as well. One wrong move and their lives would end on the tip of an arrow.

Behind them, the gate was being closed by two gorillas and sealed with a pair of heavy logs. In front of them lay a large open space, consisting of packed earth. Nothing grew on the ocher-colored acre which seemed to serve as a meeting and training facility for the apes. Some apes, mostly chimps and gorillas, could be seen training with spears, bolas and bows, others sat together in small groups, drinking from calabashes.

The Colonel's keen eyes did not miss how many of the present apes looked similar to Caesar and his troupe in weaponry and mannerism. Some even had the same kind of markings painted onto their fur. There were no children, elderly or families. The area leading up to _Water Curtain Cave_ belonged to hunters, and hunters alone.

Those hunters looked up from whatever they were doing when Caesar and his troupe passed by, and even though there was curiosity shining in their intelligent eyes, no one made any attempt to stop them. Was the presence of humans so common to them? Or was it a sign of Caesar's absolute authority?

The Colonel snorted in wry amusement. The chimp was clearly not some run-of-the-mill hunter.

_We ran into their goddamn queen bee!_

A gust of wind rose up and suddenly the riders were surrounded by a mesmerizing smell like cinnamon and honey. Ellie held her nose to the wind, trying to find the source of the scent. It came from the east where the waterfall's white water grew more placid and the river bent in a long curve. It had to originate in the trees and bushes growing in abundance across the water. Some of the plants were in full bloom, releasing clouds of pollen from their pink flowers. Other plants bore fruit already, their boughs heavy and drawn to earth by their weight. The lush greenery formed an interesting contrast to the dry wasteland on the other side of the river, just as if someone had tamed a part of the _Green Hell_ and fashioned it into a garden.

In the meantime, they had almost reached the foot of the giant waterfall and Caesar halted his horse. He turned to the humans with a blank face: “Dismount. The stables are at the western side of the cave and the horses need rest.”

“Humans. Have own legs. Can walk”, Koba growled darkly.

“Caesar, please”, Ellie tried again. “Malcolm has a fever. He can barely stay upright.”

The chimp hesitated. Sympathy flickered in his eyes for a split second. Then Malcolm pressed her shoulder.

“It's fine”, he murmured and slid from the horse. Even though he was pale, he stood firmly with both legs on the ground. Ellie rolled her eyes and dismounted as well.

“Spear!”, Caesar waved the wiry chimp with the piercings over who had stopped Koba's would-be-attack earlier and started signing at him. _“Bring the guns to Luca. Tell him to lock them away.”_ He handed the Winchester to Spear and consciously ignored the fury burning in Colonel McCullough's eyes.

Spear hummed in acknowledgment before taking the reins of the riderless horses and followed the rest of Caesar's apes to the stables. Only Koba stayed behind. A decision Caesar accepted without a word.

“Move along. It is not far.”

And indeed it was only a short walk until they reached the foot of the waterfall. Only then they realized its true height and dimension: Water barreled down the rock for hundreds of meters before continuing on as a white-water witch's cauldron of a river. The thunder with which the water cascaded down was an overwhelming physical force, making normal conversation impossible. And yet, the fine mist that the wind carried over from the water caressed their burning faces with fresh coolness and sparkled into rainbows with the sunlight. Something magical and wondrous permeated the waterfall, infused with a whisper of fright.

“Up!”, Koba bellowed and pushed Malcolm ahead.

Ellie jumped to her husband's side but was surprised by the Colonel's speed who had reached and steadied the feverish explorer before he could fall. She nodded at McCullough in silent thanks but the big game hunter didn't react.

“Koba.” “_That's enough._”

The bonobo grumbled under his breath before roughly shouldering past the humans and up a narrow path. Ellie and the other two followed hesitantly, taking excruciating care where they put their feet because the stone was worn down and slippery by centuries-long use. Next to them the waterfall thundered down the mountain, promising death to any ape or man who lost their footing here.

“Babies climb better”, Koba snorted in derision and Ellie asked herself once more what had happened to the ape to make him so hateful towards humans. Once at the top, Caesar allowed them a short pause to catch their breath before he led them deeper into the mountain. Soon, the waterfall's roar dulled into nothing as they followed Caesar through narrow torch-lit corridors. And then Water Curtain Cave opened up before them like a shimmering pearl.

Sunlight cascaded down the crater of what once might have been a volcano. Moss and lichen covered the slopes while the ledges were home to vegetable beds and fruit-bearing trees. The sounds of trickling water filled the air as it pattered over stone and lush vegetation to run together in shallow pools. It was the opposite of the hunters' world outside the walls: peaceful, pleasant and enchanting.

Orangutans, gorillas, chimps and bonobos moseyed around the cave floor and the ledges on the wall, drank from the pools or ambled in and out of dwellings and pathways their ancestors had carved out of the rock. Every corner was filled with a hundred beating hearts and Ellie understood instantly that this place was never still. _Water Curtain Cave_ was bursting with life!

A gaggle of cheering and laughing children ran past them as the group continued their walk. Apes with gray and silver fur were playing a game that reminded Ellie vaguely of Nine-Men Morris but with a lot more pieces. Females, some carrying their babies on their backs, sat together and chattered in a hodgepodge of signing, grunting and huffing. A bizarre form of communication, sometimes with intelligible human words mixed in. Once in a while patrolling gorillas crossed their way. And then there were the apes that, sitting in small groups or pairs, were delousing each other.

“Don't say it, Colonel”, Ellie whispered.

“So you had the same thought?”

Ellie winced as if she had bitten into a lemon. She should have been thankful that the Colonel didn't talk about _dirty apes_ but she was too angry about his words. Mainly, because she had thought the same thought. She was ashamed of herself. These apes were anything but dirty! Naturally, a place like the cave was a wild mixture of all kinds of smells, and the apes' musk was the most prominent of the mix, but overall the air was refreshing and cool and easy to breathe.

Wherever Caesar went with the humans in tow, apes stepped aside and watched with curiosity before putting their heads together and whispering but Ellie couldn't spot any real surprise.

“Beautiful! I've never seen … something like that”, Malcolm, who had forgotten his injured arm for a moment, suddenly murmured next to her. “How many apes might live here?”

“A few hundred at least.”

Malcolm's gaze wandered to the middle of the former volcano. An old and gnarly tree was growing there, shrouded in red blossoms, but the tree was not the focus of Malcolm's interest but the monolith upon which it grew. It was of a lighter color than the cave's stone walls and bedrock and its surface was odd; rough and crisscrossed with notches that might have once been symbols or faces before they'd been weathered down into obscurity. Malcolm couldn't be sure at this distance. At the side facing him though he spotted a deep vertical groove that ran from top to bottom of the monolith and reminded him of …

… _an Aztec sacrificial altar._

Only much, much bigger.

The place had to be important because no one was climbing on it and even those apes walking close by the giant rock were moving slowly and reverentially. Before Malcolm could ask Caesar about the monolith, though, he flinched in pain as a chimp carelessly shouldered his way past the group. He was a stocky one, marred by many battles and showing bald patches in his fur. Grumbling under his breath, he knuckled past them without sparing them a glance, his thoughts obviously somewhere else.

Caesar chuckled and called “Rocket!”, startling the other chimp so much that he nearly stumbled over his hands and feet. Then his coarse face lit up before both chimps pulled the other into a bear hug and pressed their foreheads together.

“Good to see you! How is your head?”

Rocket dumped a flood of signs on Caesar. _“Head's fine. Needs more than a damned raptor to finish off old Rocket. Did your plan work out? Did you get all raptors?”_

Caesar scratched his throat in embarrassment. “Nearly all. Something came up.”

The bald chimp looked past Caesar and seemed to realize for the first time the presence of the humans. A muscle twitched in his jaw.

“They are scientists, like Will”, Caesar hurried to explain. “They lost their equipment in the earthquake yesterday. You must have felt it, too, it was a strong one.” When Rocket nodded, Caesar continued signing: _“I couldn't let them fend for themselves out there. The raptors would've gotten them for sure.”_

Rocket rolled his eyes. _“Someday your sympathy will break your neck! You never learn. Always bringing back every hurt critter you found in the jungle, even as a child.”_

Caesar lifted his hands placatingly. He knew what Rocket was getting at. “I know, I know. The rainbow serpent.”

“_It bit you and nearly killed you!”_

“That was a long time ago, Rocket. I am not a child anymore.” Caesar slapped the other's broad shoulder before Rocket started dragging up more follies from Caesar's childhood. _“Let's have a banana beer later, OK? Bring Tinker along. Koba, you come too!”_

The bonobo grumbled something indistinguishable.

“This is Rocket”, Caesar finally introduced the chimp to the group. “One of our best hunters.”

Rocket eyed the humans one after the other before turning back to Caesar. He did not appear in the mood to humor the _hurt critters_ Caesar had dragged in this time. _“Does _Alpha_ know of them, yet?”_

“_We're on our way to see him. He needs to decide what will happen to them.”_

“_Well, what do _you_ think? Maurice will be as fascinated by your humans as you are and will want to keep them.”_

“_I'm counting on that.”_

A wry grin flashed across Rocket's mouth before he hugged Caesar once more. _“Need to go. I promised Tinker to prepare dinner.”_

They left the crater's busy thoroughfare and walked deeper into the cave. Bubbling communal life was exchanged for a grand and majestic quietness. Even the air smelled different, carrying a new scent that reminded Ellie of Sandalwood. They met more gorillas back here, patrolling through the hallways. Once or twice they were stopped by one of the giant apes but a few signs from Caesar were enough to clear the way for them. Eventually, the hallway ended in a smaller cave which other end was blocked by a closed-off door made of bamboo. Similarly to the way-shrines they had encountered in the jungle, the door was decorated with colorful ribbons, strung-up pearls and many-colored prints of ape-hands. Two huge gorillas were guarding the door; the snow-white one of them rose and bared his teeth as soon as they entered the cave. Despite his height he was still young.

_And inexperienced_, the Colonel thought, as the second gorilla roughly pushed the white one back down.

„Winter. It's Caesar!“, he bellowed.

Recognition dawned on Winter's face, followed by shame. He ducked his head in submission. He signed: „I am sorry“, but no one was paying him any attention anymore.

Instead, the other gorilla, an impressive specimen with fur the color of rust, rose and unfurled himself to his full height. He looked down his nose at Caesar. „What Caesar want?“

„I want to see _Alpha_. We found these humans during our hunting trip and _Alpha_ needs to decide what we'll do with them.“ Caesar's voice was steady and firm, conveying without a doubt that the chimp would not take no for an answer but the gorilla still took his time answering, thoughtfully scratching his broad chest.

„Humans …?“ He tried to act as if Caesar's veiled order was as significant to him as a fly's presence on another ape's coat but his clenched jaw was belying his nonchalance. „Alpha asleep. Caesar come back later. Humans, unimportant. Sleep, important.“ The muscles under the red one's fur were bulging with tension and it was painfully obvious that he did not want to let the chimp pass. Winter next to him curled further into himself.

„Red. _Alpha_ says Caesar always welcome“, he tried to defuse the smoldering conflict but only got a snarl and another angry hit in return.

Caesar on the other hand did not let Red's display of power unnerve him. He challenged the gorilla, staring straight at him, fur raised and arms hanging loosely at his side, ready to defend himself if it should come to that.

„Disobeying orders again, Red?“, Caesar asked. „You want to lose this post as well?“

The gorilla flinched as if struck and glared at Caesar. He felt his grasp on the situation slip; the chimpanzee was so much higher in their social hierarchy, that Red was foolish to challenge him. No one took him seriously, even the humans seemed to muster him with barely veiled contempt. His confidence was starting to crumble but it was Koba's snide laughter that tipped him over the edge. He snarled, baring his teeth, his fur on end like a bottle-brush. Ellie shrank back instinctively, pulling Malcolm with her. The Colonel on the other hand merely crossed his arms over his chest. This was going to be interesting!

But in the end Red could only concede to Caesar's wish. „Caesar _always_ welcome. Humans not! Koba not!“, the gorilla hissed and finally stepped back from the door, without any sign of submission.

„Caesar talks with _Alpha_. Koba watches humans“, the bonobo answered coolly.

Caesar hesitated for a moment, then he threw in the towel metaphorically and his arms in the air and stepped through the door. He left a leaden silence in his wake.

„What a monkey business“, McCullough murmured and lit his pipe. „Why can't we talk with this Alpha? Who knows what the fleabag'll tell him.“

„It might be hard for you, Colonel, but you have no choice but to trust Caesar“, Malcolm said tiredly. He shuffled over to a wall and lowered himself to the ground. His wound had started to hurt again and he was feeling hot and cold in turn and very, very tired. He closed his eyes with a sigh and just listened to the alien sounds around him. Regardless of what _Alpha's_ decision would be, the expedition had been fantastic and illuminating!

Ellie sat down next to him and examined his wound. Fever was never a good sign but apart from that the wound seemed to heal just fine. Really, Malcolm just needed some peace and quiet. She pressed his hand encouragingly and turned to her sketchbook. Humming contentedly, she drew Red and Winter guarding the door – Winter trying to console Red, receiving just another snarl in return. Koba found his way to the paper as well, a dark and looming shadow. Ellie paused and squinted at her sketch. It didn't matter how unsettling the bonobo was, he also radiated a certain sadness. Something that even manifested itself in her sketch. At last, her pencil captured McCullough's form who, arms still crossed, was leaning against the cave wall and smoked his pipe.

For a long time nothing happened behind the bamboo door but when it finally opened an exhausted but quietly satisfied Caesar emerged. His words „You can stay.“ caused a wave of relief to course through Ellie and Malcolm – and a frustrated snort from Koba.

„That means for now. _Alpha_ is curious and wants to meet you.“ The chimpanzee grew serious. „If you hurt even one inhabitant of _Water Curtain Cave_ I will throw you out personally and even _Alpha_ won't be able to stop me.“

Even though the words were spoken to all of them Ellie noticed Caesar looking at the Colonel. She made a slight bow. „We won't betray Alpha's trust. Is there a place where we can rest? Malcolm needs rest and I need to change his bandages.“

Caesar went down on all four. „Of course. I wanted to show you to my father anyway. His garden is a treasure trove of cures and medicine. Your friend will be better soon. Koba?“

„Yes. Caesar?“

„Thank you for your help, old friend. Go now and have some rest. The hunt was taxing and I know that you don't feel comfortable in the presence of humans.“

The indecision between the wish to protect Caesar and the abhorrence of humans was written plainly on the bonobo's face. At last Koba exhaled in frustration.

„Caesar. Be careful“, he grumbled roughly and pressed his knuckles against the chimpanzee's in farewell before walking off.

They left _Water Curtain Cave_ and emerged on the eastern flank of the waterfall as the Colonel noted with a glance towards the sun. It was also another entrance as the one they had used to enter the cave. Thick brushwork protected the entrance from prying eyes and the Colonel grudgingly congratulated the apes on their foresight to have several entrances to their lair, much like a warren. In their stead, he wouldn't have planned the stronghold in any other way.

From up here he could see the flowering garden, the palisade behind it and the river's snakelike path.

They descended over steps hewn out of the stone. Down here the sweet smell of honey and cinnamon the humans had noticed before was so strong it tuned out everything else. Caesar scaled the bamboo fence enclosing the garden with ease and pulled down one of the peach-laden branches, picking four of the ripe fragrant fruits and tossing three of them to the humans. He ate the last one himself while ambling along the edge of the fence on all fours until they reached a small gate. Here he spat out the peach stone and jumped to the ground.

„Damned circus monkey“, McCullough murmured into his beard before pushing his peach into Ellie's hand.

„You're missing out, Colonel!“, she said. The peaches were easily the most delicious fruit she had ever tasted.

„Just don't start complaining when you're hurling your guts out. Who knows where his hands have been!“

Over quaint gravel paths they ventured deeper into the garden. The way grew steadily cooler and shadier, a sweet wind was whispering in the treetops. Somewhere water was trickling along a hidden path and they heard the even _tock-tock_ of a bamboo water-fountain. Herbs, trees, flowers – everything was here. Ellie discovered plants in the shadow she had never seen before in her life, some of them sprouting large, iridescent leaves and blue-black buds. Flowers, or fruit after all?

„Careful, poisonous“, Caesar cautioned as they passed some trees with blue-sprinkled yellow flowers that ended in long filaments that made them look like flames.

For a long while only the quiet crunch of gravel and the soft wind accompanied their way, then voices started to mix into the silence: „Flame-orchids are ripe. Need harvesting. Without them not enough salve.“

„No, we'd better wait a while longer. One or two days, maybe. By then the cats' claws will be in full bloom. The salve might not be as good if we harvest the orchids now – and our hunters might die of something worse than gangrene.“

Caesar pushed a large, red-veined leaf to the side and entered a circle of bright flaming red flowers. In front of them a female chimpanzee and an old man in a ragged coat and scraggy gray hair were leaning down over some herbs that smelled faintly of pepper.

„Hello, father. Cornelia.“

The ape turned around instantly at his words. Her greetings got stuck in her throat as she spotted the three humans.

„Caesar? You're back already?“, the man murmured but didn't deign to turn around. His attention was wholly focused on the plants.

„Yes. And I have brought guests.“

„Guests?“

The old man finally rose and turned around. A shadow crossed his bearded, weather-beaten face. Baffled he lowered the notebook he was holding and before anyone could interfere, Malcolm took one resolute step forward and gripped the man's hand.

„Professor William Rodman? It's such an honor!“

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> enter scene: Squickqueen and Talimee sitting together, going through the translation
> 
> Talimee [reading aloud]: "You will see your friend greatly improved in a short while." Caesar sounds like an effing Austen novel ... need to change that.
> 
> [two minutes later]
> 
> Squickqueen: Great! Now I picture Caesar in Austen-style clothes in my head! Complete with walking stick and those stupid trousers.  
T: Don't forget the cravat. [pauses] PotA Regency-AU.  
S: NO!!!  
T [already spinning the cast]: Mister Caesar Rodman of Water Curtain Cave, esquire, with 3000 pounds a year. Going to Bath to woo the pretty Miss Cornelia but meets Colonel Wesley J. McCullough. An uncouth scotsman, recently returned from war, and hoping to ease his dark moods in the ball-season. Made a pretty fortune in the war, too.  
They meet in the Lower Rooms and start talk-arguing and everything unravels from there.  
S: Evil enabler. Thank god I have other things to write.  
T: Muahahahaha!


	4. Hidden Claws

To claim that Will Rodman was glad about their visit would have been a shameless exaggeration. The old man was adamant from the start that he had no desire to follow their expedition back to civilization. Nevertheless, he welcomed them into his home.

Will Rodman's refuge was a bizarre mix of garden shed and hospital in which every tiny thing had its exact place, attesting to the professor's care and accuracy. The ground was covered with bamboo mats and Malcolm and Ellie gratefully sat down while the Colonel remained standing. The hunter placed himself where he could easily keep an eye on door and windows. More than once his gaze flitted over to Caesar who was sitting off to one side and was following the proceedings with attention. Their looks crossed again and again, then wrenched away and inevitably locked once more with blazing sparks. Thankfully, the duel was fought in utter silence.

“It took years of hard work to build myself a new life here. I won't give it up for something I no longer feel connected with!”, Will was telling them fiercely while he uncovered Malcolm's wound and took a look at it. He carefully prodded the skin and nodded in satisfaction.

“You're lucky your wife knows something about medicine, Mr. MacDonald. The wound is healing excellently.” He took Malcolm's temperature by laying a hand on his forehead. “But you're still feverish. Cornelia, brew some tea and then take care of the willow catkins. They need to be brushed before sundown!”

The wish to remain and drink tea with the humans was as clear as day on the female chimp's face but as assistant to professor Rodman one better did their chores. So the ape, who looked only barely older than Caesar, hurried to stoke the fire in the pit in the middle of the room and put on a kettle of water that soon started boiling. In the meantime she collected five cups from around Will's hut and handed them to his guests. She knew her way well around the professor's abode and where to find things.

“What I’d like to know is”, Will said conversationally as he started preparing the salve, “did my wife finance your expedition? With the task of sniffing me out and returning me to her?” He plucked apart some yellow and red petals, added them to a mortal with a dash of oil and started to grind them down. 

Ellie and Malcolm exchanged a hurried glance and the man nodded.

“Hah! Could've guessed! Caroline has always been a stubborn girl. Would've been wiser to stay home, Mr. MacDonald. The _Green Hell_ … no sensible human should ever enter this jungle. It's different than other forests – malicious and, dare I say it, aware.”

“Everything that's alive can be shot if needed”, the Colonel interrupted rudely. Will laughed scornfully and took another handful of petals before he paused to dripped some more oil into the mortar.

“You have no idea!”, he exclaimed. “That you're still breathing is a miracle in itself. My expedition twenty-five years ago didn't have that much luck and it wasn't due to us being bad shots, Mr. McCullough! Thank you, Cornelia”, he said to the chimp who was ladling fragrant tea into their cups. She retreated afterwards, most likely to 'brush out the catkins' like Will had ordered her to do.

Ellie took a sip from the hot brew. The tea was strong but not bitter and had a fine note of gooseberry. A refreshing drink!

“Drink, Mr. MacDonald”, Will said. “The tea has antipyretic properties and additional liquid won't hurt you either. You'll see, together with the balm your arm will be as good as new in no time.”

“Thank you, professor Rodman.”

“Do me a favor, Mr. MacDonald, and leave the 'professor'. The apes don't care about such titles – and neither do I. Not anymore.”

Ellie doubted that Malcolm's wound would heal as quickly as Rodman promised but she thought it the better course of action to keep her doubts to herself. Will Rodman seemed to be a very intelligent but also very opinionated man who only put up with other humans as long as he deemed them useful. She did not want to lose his goodwill. Quietly, she took one of the cookies the man had offered them to their tea. They were as dry as a bone, just as his wife's had been, she noticed and suppressed a cough.

“I believe, Caroline is missing you very much”, Ellie took up the conversation again. “We visited her a few times and I got the feeling that she's still mourning you. Regardless of how many years have gone by.”

Nothing in the face of the gray-haired explorer betrayed his true feelings. If he was moved in any way by Ellie's words he concealed his feelings very well.

“Twenty-five years are a long time”, he answered at last, his attention focused on the finished balm he was testing by rubbing a dollop of it between his fingers. He appeared to be satisfied with the outcome and hurried to apply the paste to Malcolm's wound who flinched under Will's rough ministrations. “I'm not the same man Caroline fell in love with back then. She wouldn't recognize me. I'm more ape than man these days, I'm afraid, and would only embarrass her in polite society.”

“A young chimp warming your bed as well?”

“Colonel!”, Ellie snapped but as usual McCullough just ignored her and continued: “Maybe the one eavesdropping outside the window?”

Will stared at the hunter, wound balm dripping thickly from his fingers. A muscle twitched in his face, then he shook his head. “No. I never thought about that. Cornelia is my pupil, not my lover.” He turned back to Malcolm's shoulder, added a second layer of balm and applied fresh bandages. Then his eyes narrowed in a silent warning. “But how did _you_ arrive at that thought, Mr. McCullough?”

“He over there”, the Colonel nodded towards Caesar who was bristling with anger, “calls you father. But you're right – there's no resemblance between you two.”

His voice dripped with sarcasm. Caesar stood up, fur on end and teeth bared in a snarl. A warning growl reverberated through his chest.

“Caesar, sit down”, Will said.

“But …”

“Sit down, please!”

The chimpanzee hesitated. He did not like to be treated like a baby in front of the humans. Regardless of the social order between father and son outside of the hut – in here, Will clearly called the shots. Colonel McCullough's grin was full of spite as Caesar eventually caved in and sat down again with a grumble.

Will took off his glasses and cleaned them carefully with the frayed hem of his threadbare shirt. One glass was cracked and its arms had been patched up several times. It was, like everything the old man was wearing, a relic of another life. A shadow flickered across Will's face as he put his glasses back on.

“It is true though: I’ve raised Caesar. A strange occurrence, really. You see, my expedition fared very much the same as yours, Mr. MacDonald, but we did not have the good luck to meet the apes. The raptors killed us off one by one until I was the only one left. Believe me, when I say that I’m not a man to accept fate without a fight but back then the _Green Hell_ nearly had me. I was close to giving up.”

Will wiped his hands on his worn out knickerbockers before picking up his cup. He stared into the dark brew absentmindedly as if watching reflections of the past.

“I'll never forget the day I met Tyrannosaurus Rex.”

A sudden gust of wind blew through the hut and slammed the shutters close. The oil-lamp's weak glow shivered and cast warped shadows on the wall, crooked like the claws of a great beast. Ellie shivered. Her hand fumbled around for Malcolm's.

_Tyrannosaurus Rex._

They knew the King of the Dinosaurs from the museum where the monster's skeleton enraptured every new visitor. Ellie clearly remembered the gaping gigantic maw, the claws at its feet, the perfectly balanced body of an apex predator at the very top of the food chain. And with teeth as long as her hand.

Was it truly possible that such a creature roamed around in the woods here? On the other hand, raptors were doing the same. Ellie shuddered again.

Apparently, Malcolm had his doubts as well about the truthfulness of Will's story. “You must have been exhausted back then”, he said carefully. “Maybe your eyes were playing tricks on you and -”

“No.”

Surprised, they all turned to Caesar. Hands lightly braced on his thighs, the chimp sat in front of them, looking grim. A darkness had fallen over his whole being, making him look older and harder. No one dared to interrupt him

“Tyrannosaurus Rex is as real as you and I! It is a devious hunter that lives outside any laws and does not distinguish between killing raptors or apes. In earlier times, we thought it was a god or the _Green Hell_ itself but that was nonsense! Tyrannosaurus Rex is nothing more than a huge voracious lizard!”

“Lizards are animals, and animals can be killed.” Colonel McCullough's eyes glinted with unabashed thrill of the hunt. “Give me back my rifle and I'll finish the T-Rex!”

“It is mine!”, Caesar snapped and felt reluctant respect for the big game hunter grow at the same time. Ever since he could remember, Caesar had been told that Tyrannosaurus Rex was impossible to kill. It felt as if the apes living here still thought of the beast as a kind of god. And now this human came along, with his gun and his frigid eyes, and just like that decided to challenge Caesar for his prey. Not once McCullough had used the word _impossible_. And that Caesar admired. Will, on the other hand, did not agree.

“Shut up, McCullough!”, he barked. “You don't know what you're talking about! No one can beat a Tyrannosaurus Rex! Not the hunters, not Caesar, and especially not you. It doesn't matter what kind of great hunter you think you are – no one survives a run-in with a T-Rex!”

“I did, father.”

„And if you think you'll have such luck a second time, you are mistaken!”

Will took off his glasses and rubbed his eyes with a sigh. After a moment's composure, he continued: “You have to understand: When I encountered it back then, the T-Rex was hunting but the hunt was strange, for the chimpanzee it was chasing did not even try to escape. I thought at first that he was mad but I found the corpse of a female a short while later, and I understood that he had been trying to lure the T-Rex away from his mate. And away from his son.” Will's features softened and he started to smile. “Caesar. Something compelled me to take on this small, whimpering bundle of fur as my own and this decision possibly saved my life. My will to live returned with the responsibility. This small ape-child set me on a new path even though he tried to bite off my fingers first!”

“Father …”

“What?! Everyone can know that even an exceptional hunter as you started off as an anklebiter. Helps deflating the ego!”

Ellie suppressed a laugh. Amidst all the horrors and marvels of the last days, it felt good to witness something as normal as a banter between father and son.

“Be it as it may”, Will continued and put his glasses back on, “we endured, Caesar and I. For days, until we met a group of hunters who brought us here to _Water Curtain Cave_. The apes were thankful that I had rescued one of their own but I'm sure they would have brought me back to the _Green Hell_ and left me to my fate if the _Alpha_ at that time hadn't realized how invaluable my knowledge of medicine and botany could be for them. And Caesar? I tried to foster him with another ape-family. It didn't work out and in the end I raised him as my son.”

Will lifted his mug and drained the tea in one go.

“And like any father worth his salt I worry for my son when he hunts raptors down in the valley, armed only with a spear. I would sleep more soundly at least, if I knew that you’d retreat if you encountered the T-Rex.” His eyes sought out Caesar's who held his gaze and kept silent. It was obvious that father and son had had this discussion often in the past and never arrived at an agreement.

The professor sighed and turned to his guests: “I won't bore you any more with old stories. It's late and you must be tired. Do you have any idea where to stay? I can offer you my shed but it is far from being a luxury suite.”

“We take anything with a roof and four walls”, Ellie hurried to assure when she saw McCullough open his mouth, sure to spout the next beastly remark. He glared at her.

“Excellent. Or did you have other accommodations in mind for our guests, Caesar?”

The ape shook his head. “To be honest, _Alpha_ hoped you would offer them your shed”, he said with a smile.

“And who I am to disappoint _Alpha's_ hopes?”, Will answered with a hint of humor in his voice. “Come, I'll show you to your quarters. The shed is dusty and in quite a disarray but I suppose you know how to wield a broom.”

~*~

Rodman's shed was indeed desperately in need of a good cleaning but the expedition members couldn’t care less. They just about managed to hang up their hammocks and climb in before sleep claimed them in a matter of seconds.

The scope of her exhaustion became apparent by the fact that Ellie slept soundly through the night and only woke up when sunlight was tickling her nose. Birds were chirping outside in Rodman's garden, intermingled with the familiar _tock-tock_. Someone was snoring in the front room. It had to be the Colonel, Ellie's sleep-addled brain concluded, because Malcolm was sleeping right next to her. McCullough had taken up position in the front-room, leaving the second, smaller, room to the MacDonalds. Grumbling softly, Ellie turned to her other side and accidentally made her hammock bump into Malcolm's. Her husband muttered something in his sleep.

Deeply unwilling, she opened her sleep-crusted eyes. Sunlight filtered through the haphazardly built slat-walls. Dust motes danced in the light. Something scratched lightly along the shed's outer wall. An animal perhaps? No, more likely some shrub the wind was toying with.

She took a look around. professor Rodman had not lied – the shed was lacking all kinds of comfort. The floor was neither covered with soft bamboo mats, nor was there a fire pit or any window. Whereas Rodman's hut was painstakingly organized, his shed was a jumble of garden tools, hammocks, bamboo slats, seeds and a hundred more things that were waiting for their use. In some places the dust was so thick that Ellie could spot the tracks of small animals running through it. No doubt the darkest corners of the shed were home to an assortment of rodents, insects and lizards.

“Good morning”, Malcolm croaked from the side. Ellie gifted him with a smile. He looked refreshed and the feverish sheen in his dark eyes had vanished without a trace. Will Rodman's balm had worked wonders!

He reached over and languidly tucked a strand of hair behind her ear. “Did you sleep well?”, he wanted to know.

“Like a stone.”

In the next room the snores broke up suddenly. They heard the Colonel's hammock groan under the man's weight – or was it even the man himself? – then the sound of heavy boots and the opening and closing of the door. The steps faded away.

“Time to get up”, Ellie murmured. “Don't want our big game hunter let loose on those apes without anyone keeping an eye on him.”

“Oh, c'mon. He's just taking a leak.”

“I wouldn't put anything past that man. He's so full of himself, he's capable of any idiocy.”

“Self-assured, yes, but not stupid.”

When she didn't reply and just stared at him with raised eyebrows, Malcolm admitted defeat with a deep sigh: “Ah well. Let's get up, too!”

Someone had hung a net full of fruit up under the eaves, probably meant as their breakfast. It contained mangoes, persimmons, passion fruits, red berries and some cone-shaped fruits with a leathery green peel that none of the humans had ever seen before. A faint rotten smell emanated from them.

“Is that still edible?” Ellie was turning the fruit around in her hands indecisively.

“They're all smelling like this”, Malcolm remarked and sniffed one of the other cone-shaped fruits. “Maybe that's just their natural scent? I don't think the apes would try to poison us with rotten fruit.”

They were still pondering when the Colonel plucked the fruit out of Ellie's hand and stripped its skin away with the confidence and skill of a hunter, just like he had skinned the raptor.

“Here”, he said, offering the peeled cone to them. “Try it and we'll know if it’s fit for human consumption.”

“Why don't you try it, McCullough?”

“Because I do not eat unknown stuff some monkey put up under my roof. I stick to the things I know.” He emphasized his point and held up a mango.

Malcolm rolled his eyes and took the cone from McCullough's hand. The rotten smell had only grown worse and every one of his senses screamed at him to stay away from this. In true explorer’s spirit he brought the thing up to his mouth and nibbled carefully at the soft, pearly pulp. No trace of decay! The taste was fruity and sweet and reminded him of pears.

“It tastes delicious! Here, try it.” He gave the fruit to Ellie who could only agree with her husband. As hungry as they were, the humans devoured the fruit until nothing remained but a pile of discarded peels and pits. 

After that they started cleaning their temporary home of the worst heaps of dust at least. Ellie, armed with a simple bamboo broom, had braved the furthermost corners of the shed where even a big game hunter like McCullough would not dare to tread and had found a small book wrapped in oil-cloth, its corners gnawed on by critters. Supposing it was some kind of expedition journal she opened it and was surprised to find Will Rodman's diary instead.

Curious, she leafed through the booklet. In a neat cursive script the professor had dated every entry, exhibiting his diligence once more. His sentences were short and precise, fitting closely together to save space on the page. In other parts pages had been torn out. Why? Had Will deemed those entries too personal? Had he witnessed and processed thing by writing them down, bearing the risk of getting into trouble if someone had found this diary?

Ellie glanced only cursory at most of the entries, since they spoke of people and events unknown to her but one entry caught her attention.

_April 19th, 18xx_

_Our fifteenth anniversary._

_I promised you the stars and gifted you nothing but misery. Would that you had said no when I asked for your hand in marriage! You deserve more than this eccentric scientist who has always been married to his work … I would give everything to hold you once more in my arms. Are you thinking of me sometimes? I love and miss you!_

“Do you make a habit of reading diaries that don't belong to you, Mrs. MacDonald?”

Ellie yelped and the book tumbled from her hands. She had been so absorbed in her reading that she didn't notice the Colonel stepping up to her. McCullough bent down for the book and handed it back to her.

“If he's taken to hiding this among all this junk, out professor really seems to have finished with his missus. No wonder there – she must be a dry, old biddy by now”, he remarked distantly.

“Have you always been such a jerk, McCullough?”

He laughed.

“You have to ask my parents. Come. Rodman's ape assistant is outside, rambling about some ceremony in the grotto. That's another thing you want to stick your nose in, right?”

With that, he walked off.

~*~

When the humans and Cornelia arrived at _Water Curtain Cave_ almost the entire crater was filled with sitting apes. Some had even climbed up the walls and made themselves comfortable on the various ledges, following the goings-on below them with interested looks. By far the most though had settled down in several wonky circles around the central monolith but there was neither hush nor reverence in the atmosphere. On the contrary: There was constant movement, a busy hustling and bustling and a level of noise befitting a fair.

“What kind of ceremony is it, Cornelia?”, Malcolm wanted to know, quickly stepping out of the way of a bonobo family that was forcibly pushing through their ranks to the front of the crowd.

“Sacrifice for protection”, the chimp simply said.

_A sacrifice?_

Malcolm fervently hoped that it would not be a blood sacrifice, and if so, that the unfortunate creature was dead already. He doubted he could stomach a live sacrifice so shortly after breakfast.

“When moon vanishes we offer sacrifice for Great Stone-Ape”, Cornelia explained and resorted to gesturing with her hands whenever her words failed her. “Apes believe he is protecting us from Fire-Lizard. Its den lies on the other side of world and moon is gate.”

“And when the moon vanishes, the gate is open?”

Cornelia nodded, overjoyed that Malcolm had been able to follow her explanation.

“Will says this is only a legend – and maybe he is right. I also do not believe story. I am Will's pupil. Biologist! But other apes believe. Ceremony is important for _them_. Much to learn, still.” Cornelia shrugged with both shoulders. A gesture probably learned from the professor, or from Caesar. Then she lifted one arm and waved to professor Rodman, who was standing in a line at the back of the crowd and was looking around in search for something. His face lit up once he spotted them and he came over.

“Thank you, Cornelia”, he said to the chimp, who appeared pleased by his praise. “You've managed right on time. It's starting soon. Do you have your sketchbook with you, Mrs. MacDonald? Good, good! Sketch to your heart's content, no one will mind.”

His voice fell to a whisper during the last words because now the ruckus around them did die down and something like a respectful silence descended upon the crater. It wasn't completely quiet, of course: here feet were scuffing the earth, there ape-children were whining and from further back came the occasional dry hacking cough.

And at the front, a deep hum rolled through the rows of apes, taken up by them and passed on, from chest to chest, until the sound enveloped them like a thick blanket. Ellie had to pause her sketching because shivers where running through her. She felt the vibrations reach the furthermost crooks of her body, giving her goose-bumps all over and resonating with something in her. A feeling of warmth and softness blossomed within her and she caught herself joining the communal humming around her.

Was Malcolm feeling the same? Her husband stood beside her and witnessed the ceremony with a look of childlike rapture on his face. His eyes were glowing with joy and Ellie smiled before putting her pencil back to the page. She didn't get far, though, before Will touched her arm softly. The professor nodded towards the front where the figure of an orangutan strode dignified on all fours through the apes' ranks who were respectfully moving out of his way. Streaks of blue and yellow paint ran through his reddish fur, its strands interwoven with jewelry made of bone and stones. Around his neck and arms ran bands of twirled snails' shells, and he was carrying two full water-skins on his back.

After the orangutan came a gorilla, a chimp and a bonobo – all females – who were each holding aloft a vessel with burning incense and whose furs were equally painted in yellow and blue. A scent of sandalwood carried out from them into the crater.

“_Alpha”_, Will whispered.

Ellie was surprised. She had expected a buff chimpanzee like Rocket or a gorilla – a battle-hardened fighter who lead the apes of _Water Curtain Cave_ with an iron but just hand. What she was seeing now was anything but.

While the three females positioned themselves around the monolith in even spaces, their faces turned outwards to the crowd, _Alpha_ easily scaled the monolith's flank and sat himself under the gnarly tree. Folding his hands in his lap, he sat there, eyes closed. The ever-pervading hum finally died down and for a brief, short moment absolute silence reigned in the cave.

_Alpha_ rose with a huff and the whole crowd of apes collectively drew breath, or at least Ellie felt that way, while her pencil flew over paper, capturing the ritual step by step: _Alpha_ plucking three blossoms from the tree and letting them fall down one by one to the three females below. _Alpha_ taking off the water-skins, touching his flat hand to one of them before lifting it up to his forehead and repeating the gestures with the other.

While Malcolm and Ellie couldn't get enough of the proceedings, turning their gazes this way and that, the Colonel carefully surveyed their surroundings. It didn't matter what _Alpha_ had decreed, according to McCullough they were still in enemy territory. The big game hunter did not like where they were standing, surrounded by hundreds of apes, and without the means to protect themselves. He did not miss the disapproving sideways glances, nor did he fail to notice how some apes in their vicinity were scooting away from the humans. The hunting knife at his belt was a small comfort to McCullough but he missed the reassuring weight of his Winchester on his back more and more with each second.

McCullough's keen eyes roamed the crater from one side to the other and even checked above. He found it odd that he couldn't spot Caesar anywhere, having gotten the impression that the chimp would be sitting front-center in all this pomp and circumstance. On the other hand, didn't one chimp look like the other? In his line of work it was more than enough if McCullough could tell a gorilla apart from a chimpanzee.

Up on the rock _Alpha_ pulled the stoppers out from the water-skins before crouching down at the tree and pouring the contents across its roots. The monolith's top had to be grooved as well as its sides because only a moment later a blood-red liquid came running down the channels Malcolm had spotted the day before. The liquid was too runny to be blood, the explorer realized with relief and he assumed now that it was the juice of the red berries they had had for breakfast.

As soon as the rivulets of red juice ran dry _Alpha_ stoppered the skins again and dismounted the rock with the same elegance he had shown on his way up. Once back on the ground the three females stepped up to him and all four bowed to the monolith. And with that the ceremony appeared to be over because the crowd started to disperse. The clamor and unrest was back, even more overwhelming now after the ceremony's relative silence.

“If you want to meet _Alpha_, now's the right time. He dislikes speaking but I'll translate for you.”

They followed Will who was weaving his way through the throngs of apes, softly nudging apes aside if they failed to make way for him in time.

“_Will!”_, the orangutan signed joyfully once he noticed the old man and his entourage. He opened his long arms and pulled the former professor into a bone-crushing hug. Behind him, not unlike a shadow, loomed a massive gorilla. _Alpha's_ personal bodyguard Buck, like the group would find out later.

“_Cornelia! It's a pleasure to see you, too. How are you faring with Will? Are you learning a lot?”_

Cornelia lowered her gaze reverentially and offered her hand, palm up. “_Yes, I'm learning a lot. Every day a little bit more. Thank you for asking, Alpha.”_

The orangutan hummed satisfied, then the gaze of his soft eyes shifted to the humans. He squinted a bit and pushed nearer, as if he was short-sighted.

“_And you must be the humans Caesar told me about. Welcome to _Water Curtain Cave_. I'm _Alpha_. Or Maurice. But no one calls me that anymore.”_ With a friendly wink, _Alpha_ offered his hand to Malcolm who was deeply moved by the familiar gesture but hesitated to grab the offered limb. He had not missed how the gorilla had shifted nearer to him and wouldn't let him out of his sight. One wrong move and _Alpha's_ bodyguard would break every bone in his body, he was sure. In the end, Malcolm grabbed the hand and shook it firmly. Ellie didn't hesitate to repeat the greeting while the Colonel pretended not to see the offered hand.

_Alpha_ didn't care about his rudeness. His whole demeanor emanated the deep inner peace and tranquility that was necessary to counter the boisterous hot-headedness of the cave’s hunters.

“_How did you rest your first night here?”_, _Alpha_ asked with interest. “_I'm sorry, I couldn't offer you a place inside the cave but we're living through difficult times and some of my apes are distrustful of strangers. I didn't want to put more strain on the relationship with them.”_

„Please, _Alpha_, there's nothing to worry about”, Malcolm answered and bowed slightly. Even though he didn't know much of the apes' customs, he wagered it a fitting gesture. “We are infinitely indebted to you and your apes for sheltering us. Without your help we'd certainly be dead by now.”

The Colonel growled under his breath.

“We know from experience that the presence of strangers can be disruptive”, Malcolm hurried to continue the exchange, “so we're eager to be on our way. We only need some provisions and a guide to lead us out of the valley, that's all.”

Alpha mustered them for a long while before he scratched his chin thoughtfully.

“_We will help you to find your way home. Later. It's too dangerous, now. The raptors might swarm and we cannot spare even a single hunter.”_

“Swarm? What does that mean?”, Malcolm wanted to know after Will had translated.

The orangutan explained in languid gestures: “_When many raptors hatch at the same time, they form large packs. If those reach a certain size, they start attacking _Water Curtain Cave_. This continues until either they are destroyed, or we.”_

“On our ride here, Koba mentioned some kind of blood-craze the raptors fall into that makes them attack the cave.”

“Same thing, different name”, Will muttered.

“But why are they doing that? Why _Water Curtain Cave_ of all places?”, Ellie wanted to know. Now just like then, she found the raptors' suicidal behavior deeply confusing. Maybe _Alpha_ or Will knew more about it than a simple hunter like Koba?

But once again she was disappointed when Will just shrugged his shoulders and _Alpha_ shook his head before he continued consolingly: “_You can stay until the danger has passed. Help Will with his work, get to know _Water Curtain Cave. _There is much to discover here for scientists like you.”_

“Thank you for your offer, _Alpha_. We won't betray your trust.” 

Malcolm was barely able to contain his excitement and Ellie was equally unable to quench her joyful anticipation. Only the Colonel was casting dark glares around him: An unknown civilization, ready to be studied to their hearts' content? Naturally a dream come true for the MacDonalds! But he? He was a big game hunter and since that raptor back then he hadn't shot anything of consequence. Instead, those damned monkeys had taken his gun and dragged it to some cave somewhere where it was going to rust!

McCullough was irritated and frustrated. The thought of being cooped up here for days, if not weeks, without anything to do was enough to make him grind his teeth. The ongoing conversation lost even the last shred of significance to him when _Alpha_, Rodman and the MacDonalds genuinely started to cook up plans for the next days. Rodman's chimp was standing nearby, silent at least, but as much fascinated by the prospect of having the humans around for longer as everyone else. For a moment the bustling around them was forgotten, the apes, coming and going, curving around their small group like a river around a rock. The constant background murmur of _Water Curtain Cave_ descended upon them with a soothing lullaby.

A sudden chill crawled up the Colonel's back. The hairs on his arms stood on end. His hand tried to grab a non-existent rifle-strap while his gaze scoured their immediate surroundings.

Something was wrong!

His eyes sought out every nook and cranny a possible assailant could use to hide and his ears strained to filter suspicious noises from the grotto's humdrum. Without success.

Was it only his overwrought senses, playing tricks on him? Ever since they had entered the cave his body had been in overdrive. Everything in him had been wired to maximum watchfulness in case he needed to react at a second's notice. Outside, the big game hunter had blindly trusted in his senses and followed his instincts which had saved his skin more than once but here, on unknown terrain, he was doubting them.

Then he saw him!

The chimpanzee materialized out of the darkest corners of the cave, a look on his face the Colonel knew only too well: Here came someone who was willing to die for his cause!

_An assassin? Seriously?_

In a crude, dark way McCullough found the thought amusing. He was intrigued to see how _Alpha's_ bodyguard would handle the situation because the gorilla remained oblivious of the rising thread. The Colonel imperceptibly shifted his weight onto his other leg and smirked to himself. Regardless of how the act would play out, he was not getting involved. The monkeys could look after their precious _Alpha_ on their own!

And then – his body reacted on its own! He had the knife ready at hand and stepped into the assailant's way before anyone else even comprehended what was going on. McCullough parried the thrust with ease which would have killed _Alpha_ had it met its goal. Sparks flew as the blades scraped along each other and for a split second McCullough had a clear view of the other's dagger, its blade curved like a raptor's claw. The screech of metal on metal grated his ears as the Colonel deflected the dagger's energy. Otherwise it would have knocked his hunting knife straight out of his hands. His left hand balled into a fist and, channeling all his frustration and wrath into it, he rammed it right into the chimp's face.

Blood sprayed. The other yelled in surprise and pain. The Colonel punched him again – short, precise, and calculated; hitting the same spot in rapid succession until something gave way under his fist with a satisfying crack and a new fountain of blood.

The chimpanzee jumped out of his reach, howling in pain, but McCullough didn't give him room to breathe. He was on him again in one long stride, driving his opponent forward with kicks and vicious stabs of his knife.

Right now, nothing was of consequence for the big game hunter but the killing of his prey. Everything else – the grotto's noises, the group of apes and humans behind him, the thrumming heart in his chest – faded into the background. McCullough's body burned with the thrill of the fight but his brain was cool and calculating. No move was without purpose, no thought wasted.

And that was good because the chimp turned out to be a formidable opponent. Even though he had to be half blind with pain and even though blood was streaming from his nose, he dodged McCullough's attacks. With an abrupt turn the ape twirled past McCullough's reach and was suddenly at his side. The Colonel saw the flashing blade and jerked his left arm up with a curse. The blade had been aimed at his stomach but stabbed into his forearm instead. Hot pain lanced through him as razor-sharp metal pierced fabric and skin. The metallic taste of blood flooded his nostrils, and McCullough bit away the pain. He turned his left arm around in a flash, pressed the ape's hand down. His right snapped forward and punched his knife between the other's ribs. Surprise flashed across the chimp's face, then anguish. A gurgling rasp pressed through his lips, then a cough and a gush of blood. The dagger clattered to the ground and the ape sagged heavily against the Colonel who was bleeding profusely as he wrenched his knife out of the dying ape's body and pushed him away.

McCullough started to breathe again. Now, that the danger had passed and his body was shedding the tension like a stuffy coat, the grotto's noises breached his senses like a wave. He heard the MacDonalds' panicked chatter, as well as the howls and screams of all the apes surging towards them. The fight couldn't have lasted for more than a few seconds.

A sudden burst of rage at himself coursed through McCullough. Why did he let himself get dragged into these monkeys' affairs!?

Honed reflexes were too hard to shed!

“Colonel, are you alright?” Ellie took one step towards the man before halting and wishing she would have spared herself the question. The look McCullough was giving her was murderous.

“Shut up!”, he bellowed and wiped the bloody knife clean on his trousers. He looked positively wild standing there in front of them, his left arm drenched in blood and a blinding rage flashing in his eyes that no one dared to challenge.

The humans, _Alpha_ and Cornelia alike should have felt relief that they had survived the assault but instead this man was planting a deep, gnawing horror into their hearts. When he took a step towards them, they involuntarily stepped back. He stopped as Buck barred his way, a quiet mountain of muscle and fur.

“Out of my way! It's too late now, to protect your Alpha. Perhaps _His Highness_ should look for another guard!”, McCullough sneered.

Not a muscle twitched in Buck's face but he also refused to let this hotheaded man pass. They stared at each other, each unwilling to give in.

“Buck.” _Alpha's_ hand softly touched Buck's upper arm before he pushed slowly past the gorilla. The orangutan was visibly shaken. His rust-colored fur stood on end along his arms and neck. His benevolent eyes mustered McCullough in silence, who in turn felt his white-hot rage sink down to embers. _Alpha's_ hands started to move and Will translated: “_I owe you my life. I'm sorry that you were hurt while protecting me. How can I ever repay you?”_

Gratitude from an ape was the last thing McCullough could stomach right now. Before the usually cool-headed man could question his moves, he seized _Alpha's_ arm and snarled: “Spare me your pity!”

“No...!”, Will cried too late.

As soon as the Colonel touched the orangutan, he was blown off his feet. He crashed face first into a rock, believing his bones ready to break as Buck ground him mercilessly into the earth.

Darkness engulfed him.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> Dear Reader,
> 
> when you read this Real Life has caught up with me. No cave was deep enough, no contingency plan water-tight. The Earth is just not big enough to run forever. I have a thing I need to take care of. For better or worse, I'll be back in March.
> 
> T.


	5. Scars

A heavy silence had settled across _Water Curtain Cave_ in the aftermath of that harrowing event. The apes were slinking around in their home, looking as if they expected another calamity to drop at any moment.

That one of their own had attacked _Alpha_, intending to kill him, had rattled the apes to their core. Many did not want to believe it at first, thinking up reasons why it must have been one of the humans instead. Humans, after all, did not hesitate to kill even their own kind! Now, Apes … Apes did not do such things! Soon, the wildest rumors were flying around in the cave and it took _Alpha_ and his confidants a lot of effort to calm the inhabitants down and assure them that it was thanks to those humans that their leader was still alive.

The suffocating disquiet could still be felt in _Water Curtain Cave_ when a single gorilla with remarkably red fur roamed its halls, only half-aware that he was avoiding the company of other apes.

Red harbored dark thoughts. When all was said and done, he probably knew the would-be-assassin better than anyone else, had even called him a friend years ago.

_Grey_.

His gaze fixed on the ground where his massive body cast a long shadow and heaved a deep sigh. Grey and he had grown up together, had been taught by the same teachers, had played with the same ape-children. Very dim memories of Cornelia and a very young Caesar passed in front of Red's inner eye. He had pushed them around a bit back then, just as he had pushed around everyone weaker than him. Until, that is, Caesar had attacked him in white-hot fury one day and bit his arm. The scar was barely visible under his fur now but Red still knew it was there.

A loner with a chip on his shoulder and bursting with juvenile strength, Red had found a kindred spirit in Grey back then and it had remained that way as they grew older. They had still shared a similar view of the world. Both had yearned for a strong _Alpha_, someone who could hunt and fight and fire an arrow from the back of a galloping horse. Someone they could look up to! Someone to give them a goal in life and who would not hesitate to sacrifice everything to reach his own.

Peace-loving Maurice did not sit well with either Red or Grey. Reading and writing? Honoring old traditions and rites? What for?! Those skills were useless for a hunter.

Bitter disappointment crawled up Red's throat, painfully reminding him that neither he nor Grey had ever participated in a hunt. Luca had had canceled their training after only a few weeks, signing: _“You'll get someone killed with your idiotic idea of heroism. Come back when you're prepared to follow orders!”_

Neither of them did.

He, at least, had rustled up a job as a guard, Red thought bitterly. Grey, on the other hand, had never managed to fit into ape-society. Instead he had withdrawn further and further and had hung around unsavory characters the gorilla guard was keeping an eye on. No wonder their friendship had slowly petered out.

Until that evening when Grey accosted him on his way to his living-quarters.

Red's forehead wrinkled. He vividly remembered the chimp's unkempt appearance: his dull and tangled fur studded with grass and lichen. But under all that grime, Grey's eyes had sparkled with zeal, capturing Red's attention just as well as Grey's hands which never stopped gesticulating. They had told of the ancient conflict between Fire-Lizard and Stone-Ape, of power and cunning and the theft of fire that had changed the world.

Red knew the legends about the apes' mythical ancestor like the back of his hand, had listened wide-eyed and slack-jawed to the stories - just like the other kids in _Water Curtain Cave_. In his mind he had followed Stone-Ape along his perilous journey to the Fire-Mountain. Set on this path by desperation and only armed with his wit and his walking stick, the cunning Stone-Ape had then stolen a spark of mystical fire right out from under Fire-Lizard's nose and bequeathed it to his children and his children's children who had lived in the deepest depths of the mountains without light and warmth.

Red also recalled the end of that story: Fire-Lizard had challenged the thief to a duel and Stone-Ape knew he couldn't win. To protect his offspring, Stone-Ape lured Fire-Lizard into an eternal prison made of pure gold and sealed its gate shut with his life and his blood.

Red believed in those legends as little as he believed in Maurice as _Alpha_ and Grey's insistent retelling of them had swiftly begun to get on his nerves. He had been close to give his former childhood friend a rude nudge but then Grey's all-over-the-place signing had shifted and had suddenly become meaningful and compelling.

“_Do you remember how we wished for another, stronger _Alpha_, Red? We're not alone, there are others like us! And they have found the source to true power.”_

Grey had looked around conspiratorially.

“_They don't follow a deceiving Stone-Ape who seizes dominance through robbery but the reign of Fire. The great Fire-Lizard means true power, Red. Its flames mark the beginning and end of the world and only when we follow its laws and burn everything that is weak in its fire, only then will this world become a paradise for us apes.”_

He should have left Grey standing there, Red thought and puffed up his cheeks in frustration. But back then he had been enamored with the idea of belonging to a band of like-minded apes, rebelling against everything the others in _Water Curtain Cave_ deemed good and worthy. Then again, the gang had only been made up of a handful of nameless apes, who spent their time cooking up crazy ideas and dreaming of the day when they would find the golden prison and free Fire-Lizard from its shackles. What kind of trouble could a bunch of misfits like those really cause? Let them follow whoever they liked, Red had reasoned, and hadn't cared one way or another.

And now Red wondered if he should have paid more attention to the others' outrageous schemes. Maybe that way he could've seen the fanatic zealotry hidden therein and which was poisoning Grey through and through. Regardless of how rebellious Red saw himself, and how fervently he wished for a new and strong _Alpha_, the mantra of _Ape shall never kill Ape_ sat deep under his skin. The idea of trying to kill Maurice would never have crossed his mind!

If the human hadn't stepped in, Grey would have reached his goal and cut _Alpha_ open like an over-ripe fruit. Instead, it had been Grey bleeding out on the rocks. Had he been happy to die for Fire-Lizard? Or did he regret his actions and was questioning the cause he had been throwing his life away for?

Red couldn't help but wonder but mainly he was just annoyed when thinking about his former playmate's death. Grey had alerted the whole _Water Curtain Cave_ to the existence of their little group and if someone found them out now they would be exiled immediately without a doubt. This spelled a death sentence because no one survived in the valley on their own.

The gorilla had already hidden away the claw dagger he had received in his initiation and he would avoid the others until this whole affair had blown over. Maybe, he secretly hoped, Grey's attack would mean the end for their little group and it would dissolve on its own like a specter by morning.

“Red. Where to?”

The gorilla flinched violently at the unexpected call and jerked to a standstill. His eyes shot back and forth, and then up. There, on a little nook carved into the rock-wall, Koba lay on his back and was idly playing with a knife.

Red would not have been able to spot the bonobo in his perfect hiding spot if not for the torch burning in a wall-sconce a few feet away. The nook was an ideal space to see without being seen though Koba's gaze was currently focused on his hunting knife as he balanced it on his fingertip and tested the edge's sharpness with his thumb. When Red failed to answer, Koba turned his head. The flickering light ghosted over his mangled face where the blind eye sat milky-white like the moon in the night sky. Red gave his best to hide his insecurity but the bonobo's look made him nervous. The scarred ape had something dangerous to him, something evil that festered deep down and could break free at any given moment.

“Off duty”, Red finally grumbled.

“Off duty?” Koba's question sounded like mockery. He put the knife down. _“Shouldn't you keep watch in front of _Alpha's_ cave? Maybe another assassin will try again.”_ Even Koba's gestures looked derisive.

“Winter. There.”

“Winter. Weak!” Koba bit back.

“_He's not alone. Buck's there as well, and the gorilla guard”_, Red signed in defense.

“Why not Red?”

“Red. Off duty”, the gorilla huffed stubbornly.

Koba laughed without a trace of humor and returned to playing with his knife. Red stared up at him, wary of the bonobo's impression that the interrogation was over. He did not believe that Koba would dismiss him so easily and he was proven right. As soon as he took a step to leave, Koba spoke up again.

His words made Red's spine solidify to ice.

“Koba sees Red. With other apes. Apes with claw-daggers.”

“Koba. Blind!”

“_Just the one eye.”_

Red silently cursed himself for his rash answer. His eyes stayed glued to Koba as the bonobo leaned back in his nook and positively radiated confidence. Koba had seen something and now not even the best of liars could sweet-talk his way out of this noose.

“_Was it your idea to kill _Alpha_?”_

Red took a deep breath. That one was easy to answer.

“_No. Grey acted on his own. I had nothing to do with it.”_

“_Alpha_. Weak”, Koba murmured as if to himself but loud enough for Red to overhear.

Red felt annoyance well up inside him. “Why Koba follow _Alpha_? Koba strong.”

“Koba. Follow Caesar” the bonobo simply said.

“Koba. Should lead”, Red snapped back. He'd never understood what Koba saw in the young hunter. Caesar was nothing special – a decent hunter, if Red had to say so, but so was Rocket! Deep down though Red knew that Caesar was not like any other chimps and that made him boil with rage.

Koba was silent for a moment before he started laughing out loud.

“_I mean it! We could support you. We --”_

The bonobo let out a livid bark that pierced the gorilla through and through. Instinct made him back off and look away from the enraged older ape.

“You worship Lizard. Koba kill lizards!” the scarred hunter berated Red before he interrupted himself and lifted his head in alarm. Someone was approaching them.

“Get. Lost” Koba hissed and Red hurried to follow his order.

Koba shrunk back into his nook and waited with baited breath to see who would wander into this part of the grotto this late at night.

It was Will. The old man shuffled past him oblivious of his presence and Koba was tempted to just let him walk away, but then he reconsidered.

“Late, Will.”

“Koba!” The human was just as startled as Red had been before Koba noted with satisfaction. “You're still awake? What are you doing here?”

“Koba. No sleep. Much happened. _Alpha_ well?”

Will took off his glasses and massaged the bridge of his nose.

“Yes, he's fine. He's got a bad shock but nothing we can't fix.”

Koba hmphed. He hated it when Will said 'we' as if the human was counting himself among the apes. Only, Caesar truly loved Will like a father: something Koba would never understand but he held the chimp in high regard and therefore kept his opinion to himself. The bonobo yawned unashamedly before sliding out of his hiding spot down into the corridor.

“Koba. Accompany Will?” he offered. “Koba. Back to stables. Hunt tomorrow.”

Will smiled. “Thank you.”

Human and ape left the cave in silence. By an unspoken agreement, they stopped in front of the waterfall and Will gazed up to where the milky way's myriads of stars wove a band across the cloudless sky.

“Good night”, Koba said at last, a hint of impatience coloring his voice. He was tired and longed for sleep. The humans' fascination with the stars was a mystery to him. He turned to leave.

“Koba.”

The bonobo stopped. “What?”

Will wiped his glasses with the hem of his coat.

“I'm … worried about Caesar. Please be so kind and keep an eye on him tomorrow. During your hunt. Will you?”

Koba blinked in surprise. Will and he were anything but friends, had even loathed each other at a point. The fragile peace between them nowadays was all due to Caesar's influence. And here was Will now and asked him, Koba, who had never made a secret out of his disdain for humans, to protect his son? Had Will any idea at all about how much Caesar meant to him and that he'd do anything to keep him safe?

“Koba promises” he croaked through a suddenly dry throat.

“Thank you, Koba.” As Will reached out to squeeze his shoulder in gratitude the bonobo fled into the darkness.

~*~

_He stepped from the shadows into a courtyard full of light. He recognized the fountain with its waters playfully misting up the air in diamond sparkles. He recognized each pillar, each shrub, each mosaic on the walls. The flower-beds were so brilliantly colorful, they hurt his eyes._

_He took everything in as if he was there but he knew that nothing of it was real. This place existed only in his memories._

_He strode in silence along the arcades, even though his boots slammed to the floor. No birdsong, no trickling of water, no joyful laughter accompanied him in this dead calm but the tock-tock of his beating heart._

_Shadows flitted around among the pillars but vanished as soon as he tried to look at them. Above him, the sky was heavy and leaden and bearing dark clouds. Something dropped onto his face and when he reached up to wipe it away he was not surprised to see that it was blood._

“_Do you regret it? All of this?”_

“_No.”_

“_That's good.”_

_A smile. _

_Drowned in a sea of blood._

~*~

McCullough opened his eyes and frowned. For a moment the nightmare still had him in its clutches, then he became aware of morning noises outside – wind in the branches, birdsong, the tock-tock of the fountain – and the memories faded away.

The shed's roof stretched above the big game hunter, a canopy made of bamboo and cobwebs, swinging softly back and forth. Right. He was in a hammock. Its rough fabric was soaked in sweat and chafing against his skin. His fever last night must have been grueling. Now, he was just grateful for the cooling draft of fresh air that came through the slits in the wall.

From the next room came the regular breaths of the MacDonalds. Everyone was still asleep there. Colonel McCullough closed his eyes again for a few heart-beats before he heaved his legs over the hammock's side and hauled himself up. He cursed when his body reminded him with gusto that just yesterday it had made close acquaintance with a berserk gorilla and the stony ground. The bruises and contusions that had brought were nearly as bad as the wound on his arm, which was throbbing and felt hot and swollen under the bandages. At least MacDonald's wife had cleaned and dressed the wound andnot some ape with its dirty paws. That made the risk of developing blood poisoning that much smaller indeed.

Ignoring his protesting body the Colonel was determined to get up. The shack's stifling closeness was suffocating, he needed fresh air and the open sky above him. So he gritted his teeth and hoisted himself out of the swinging hammock. He instantly broke out in sweat again and his arm was positively throbbing by the time his feet touched the ground but he ignored the pain in favor of throwing on his shirt and leaving the hut, grabbing the jar of ointment Will's chimp had prepared yesterday on his way out.

It was early morning outside, just as his senses had told him. Dew was still covering the grass and was glittering on leaves and flowers in the day's first rays of light. The atmosphere was so peaceful and tranquil Colonel McCullough felt the urge to hurl.

His temper going into a nose-dive, he sought out a place to sit under one of the old peach-trees – someone, most likely Rodman, had put up a makeshift bench there – and unearthed his pipe from his pocket.

An injured arm would not stall his morning smoke.

So he made do by clamping it between his knees and clumsily filling it with tobacco. A few hefty drafts on the mouthpiece ignited the tobacco and soon wafts of smoke curled upwards from the pipe-bowl. Only then did McCullough allow himself to hum contentedly.

If not for the throbbing pain in his arm that slowly morphed into a searing burn radiating down into his fingertips, it could have been a very nice morning. The big game hunter had always prided himself on his tolerance for bodily pain but now, in this peaceful garden, he was feeling it more intensely than usual. On a hunt, when everything around him was movement and action and adrenaline were likewise coursing through his veins, he had simply no time for pain.

McCullough shrugged the shirt off and peeled bandages and soiled gauze away from his injury to give it a critical look. The cut was running along the inside of his arm from elbow to wrist and, contrary to his expectations, it was looking well enough. Just like any other thing that came from the apes, he hadn't trusted the wound-balm to be actually useful. But the wound was healing excellently! No sign of inflammation, not even where MacDonald's wife had had to stitch the cut.

“The blade didn't cut any tendons”, she had said while deftly threading needle and thread, and while he had sat through her treatment sweating and cursing and clenching his teeth. “I guess, fortune really favors fools.”

McCullough carefully balled his hand to a fist for reassurance and opened it again. He should probably thank his guardian angel that his attacker had been an easy-to-deal-with fumbling dilettante – if he would actually believe in something ridiculous like guardian angels.

The pungent smell of camphor rose from the jar when he opened it and made him sneeze. The oily salve felt pleasant on his skin. Cool like freshly fallen snow and, even more important, soothing the pain after only a few seconds down to a dull pulsing. McCullough hummed satisfied.

He would have to live with the bruises _Alpha's_ dumb bodyguard had given him; on the other hand he supposed he could count himself lucky that the gorilla hadn't just snapped his neck. How on earth should McCullough have known that it was taboo to touch the old carpet? Will's chimp had gawped at him as if she couldn't believe her eyes. The memory of her shocked face conjured up a smug smile that froze the instant he noticed movement from the corner of his eye.

“What do you want?”, he growled around the pipe in his mouth.

Caesar stopped in his step, arms casually thrown over the spear that was laid across his shoulders. He had a twig between his lips. Even though his fur lacked the white and red streaks of color today, McCullough had recognized him immediately. Apparently, the chimpanzee had made a bigger impression on him than the big game hunter was ready to admit.

“I heard what happened yesterday and wanted to say thank you before going on the hunt today”, Caesar said without much ado.

“_Thank me?!_ What for! That I kept your mangy Alpha from being gutted like a fish? To be clear on that: It was an accident.”

“An accident?” Caesar's tone made it clear that he didn't believe him. “Maurice said that you knew what you were doing. That was no accident. You reacted like a bodyguard.”

Images of sweeping robes, luxurious rooms and shining jewelry appeared in front of McCullough's inner eye. Not the images he wanted to be reminded of in this place! He fumed.

“Listen closely, monkey, 'cause I'm only saying it once: I'm a big game hunter. Doesn't matter what the MacDonalds see in this _cave_ – to me it's full of animals that incidentally know how to talk.”

He leveled a foul look at Caesar.

“I'm protecting myself, not some puffed-up _Alpha_. And I'll keep jabbing my knife into every beast that gets too close to me!”

His insults seemed to get to Caesar. The ape frowned, his fur stood on end. Green eyes sparkling furiously. In one smooth move, Caesar flicked the spear off his shoulders and rammed it into the earth.

“We are not animals”, he growled. “_I'm_ not an animal. I'm a hunter like you.” His hand snapped to his belt and unclasped the knife hanging there. Handle pointing forward he offered the weapon to the Colonel and challenged the man with a searing glare. “That's why I brought this back to you.”

For a breathless second the Colonel stared speechless at the chimp and then at the shining blade in his hand. It was indeed McCullough's hunting knife, spotless clean and without a trace of blood!

Slowly, the colonel removed his pipe from his mouth before he, with extreme care and still doubting the offer, took the weapon out of Caesar's hand. Testing the edge with his thumb, he nearly cut himself; the blade had not only been cleaned but whetted as well!

A sudden feeling of hesitant respect welled up in him, bringing with it the belated admission that Caesar was possibly more than a mere animal.

_A hunter like me._

Still, a 'thank you' didn't want to cross McCullough's lips. He pocketed the knife instead and gave Caesar a curt nod.

Who hadn't expected otherwise, apparently, as he shrugged his shoulders unconcernedly and crouched down where he stood, chin propped up with one hand. His eyes followed the Colonel's movements with mild interest as the man rolled up the bandages on his thigh before gripping one package of fresh gauze with his teeth. Before he ripped it open, though, the man glared at Caesar.

“What are you still doing here?”, he snapped.

“I'm asking myself, why you're alone out here, licking your wounds like a wild animal. Why aren't you asking your friends for help?”

McCullough barked a rough laugh. “The MacDonalds are not my _friends_. We're working together – that's all.”

_Rip!_ The package was open and the Colonel demonstratively rolled the sterile gauze around his arm, using his chin as a replacement for his left hand. It looked anything but easy. Caesar rolled his eyes and puffed out his cheeks in mild annoyance. McCullough's forehead was beaded with sweat, the man was clearly still running a fever and Caesar was seriously considering leaving the man to reap the rewards of his stubbornness but life as a hunter in the _Green Hell_ had taught him to stick together if he wanted to survive. And the Colonel, might he personally think the man rude and annoying, was not an enemy.

“_I _can help you”, he offered finally.

The Colonel froze and stared at the chimp before him, surprise in his eyes before it was replaced by disgust. He did not want to exchange pleasantries with any apes, and he wanted to show weakness in front of them even less! Just like _Alpha's_ gratitude he found Caesar's offer of help unbearable.

“_You?!_”, he snarled. “Keep your dirty paws away from me!”

Fuming with rage he grabbed the bandages to fixate the gauze, managing quite well until the wrappings slipped from his hand, unrolled on the ground and stopped in front of Caesar's feet. For a second man and ape stared at the fabric, lying innocently between them yet mocking them at the same time. Then Caesar picked it up and rolled it up with a nonchalant air.

“Let go”, he said gruffly to McCullough who was still holding the other end of the bandage. “You're worse than Koba.”

Being compared to an ape, the ugly bonobo to boot, was enough to make a vein on McCullough's forehead pop. Then he felt a drop of sweat crawl down his spine and noticed his shaking hands. He was in no condition to challenge someone like Caesar who had apparently decided to spoil his morning as much as possible. He let his end of the bandage go and Caesar rolled it up before he stood and stepped closer to McCullough.

“You're driving me crazy, monkey.”

“Koba claims the same. You two are becoming more and more alike”, Caesar teased.

“Stop comparing me to that ugly old ape!”

McCullough hissed and drew in breath between clenched teeth as Caesar grabbed his arm none too gently and deftly unrolled the bandages over the fresh gauze. A strange kind of peace unfurled between them for the time being and even though McCullough was steaming on the inside a part of him was still grateful for the help. The chimpanzee's hands were calloused but worked with a skill and care the Colonel had not expected to see. After all Caesar was an ape, so how good could his dexterity truly be?

Caesar, on the other hand, was just smugly enjoying his victory over the human. It didn't matter what Koba and Rocket said, Caesar was simply unable to look the other way when he saw a creature in need; even less so, when he was able to help said creature. But he had learned that some beings merited caution: Just like the rainbow-snake's poison had nearly killed him years back, he knew he would have to be cautious of Colonel McCullough in the future. The man might have saved Maurice's life – accidentally or not – but he still remained a big game hunter with a penchant for cruelty who was thinking of them as nothing more than animals.

Caesar pinned the bandages' end with a safety pin and stood back to look at his work with satisfaction. Then his gaze slid away from the dressings, towards McCullough's shoulders. The skin shone feverish and warm, the muscles underneath corded and tense like ropes. Caesar frowned.

“What kind of animal leaves scars like that?” he wondered and traced his fingers along the spidery network of bulging scar-tissue across the Colonel's back. Who jumped up and slapped Caesar's hand away.

“Hands off!” He glared at Caesar who stood before him, looking at him out of his strange green eyes. He read genuine interest in his gaze and a smidgen of sympathy.

“Wild boar? Tigers? Elephants?” Caesar inquired persistently.

“… Shrapnel.”

Caesar's nose twitched. The word meant nothing to him, so he misread the action when the Colonel reached for his shirt and shrugged it back on with great difficulty.

“There's no reason to be ashamed of those scars. Every hunter has some. Look”, the chimp said finally, turning the back to the Colonel and combing the fur on his neck to the side. A thick scar ran down to his shoulder blades, about as long as McCullough's hand was wide. Other, less visible scars, dotted his arms, shoulders and legs.

“Raptors”, Caesar explained proudly.

Grudging respect reared its ugly head in McCullough's breast. What kind of feat was going on a hunt with a rifle in comparison with hunting with spears and bows and arrows? He'd always kept his distance, but the apes had to get really close to their prey.

_Tough bastard!_

“What's with that one?” McCullough grumbled and pointed at a conspicuously bald patch on Caesar's chest, mainly to say something and denying Caesar having the last word.

A quick shadow flickered across his face. “Koba”, he murmured at last.

“The ugly old ape?” The Colonel was surprised. “I had the impression he'd rip the head off of anyone stepping too close to you.”

“And I would trust him with my life. But that was not always the case.”

Caesar focused on some invisible point on the ground before him. He scratched his chin in thought before taking a breath to speak. Then his eyes glanced up at the sky where the sun had wandered a good distance since the start of their meeting.

“It's late”, he said instead, turned and pulled his spear out of the earth. “I need to return to the stables. Rocket and the others are waiting for me.”

He hesitated for a second. Wind got caught in his fur and played idly with the dark strands. Then a smirk broke his pensive gaze. “If you behave while I'm gone, I might give you back your rifle when I return.”

The Colonel's answer was a string of choice names for Caesar, who just chuckled and trotted away, leaving McCullough to stomp back to the bench and angrily relight his pipe.

On his back, the old scars started to itch.


	6. The Hunter and the Hunted

Just as he had announced, Caesar and his hunters left _Water Curtain Cave_ that same morning. At first, they had ridden along the known raptor trails up to the usual hiding spots and had indeed found two fresh nests. They destroyed them without further ado and, more importantly, without encountering any of the reptiles. Soon after Spear discovered traces of several raptor tracks. They looked promising and less than a day old, so Caesar had decided to follow them.

In the meantime, several days had passed without the hunters spotting their prey. They had stumbled across the leftovers of raptor meals, of course, and bent branches, disturbed earth, and many claw marks but it looked for all senses and purposes as if the pack was deliberately avoiding them.

A peculiar way of acting. Swarming raptors were aggressive and keen to fight. They did not avoid confrontation!

Koba was the one to speak it out: “Raptors. Are playing. With us.”

Hoping to glean some information about the reptiles' strange behavior, Caesar sent Rocket and Spear to scout ahead. “You observe, that is all. Do not let yourself get drawn into a fight”, he impressed upon them.

Rocket just hummed while Spear couldn't resist a “Caesar thinks we wet behind ears?”

And now it was late afternoon and the hunters were still not back.

Tinker scratched her chin. Rocket's mate was a strong and muscular chimp with a distinct nick in her right ear and the patience of a mountain. She was sitting high up in the crown of a giant tree, where she had an excellent view over the valley, and was on look-out for their comrades. From this vantage point, Tinker could see cone-shaped mountains in the south, setting the sky on fire with meter-high spurts of flame and rains of sparks. The _Fire Mountains_ enclosed a strange place of mushroom forests, sulfurous lakes, and ancient elephant graveyards. A valley inside the valley where only the most seasoned hunters dared to go. 

Raptors loved to breed there on the other hand. It was their territory, their home, and when they swarmed the hunters couldn't help but go hunting there, too.

Tinker sniffed disapprovingly before she swung herself up even higher with powerful movements to bring some variety to her boring task. She had also spotted the thin leaves of a prickly sorrel that was winding around the tree's giant stem. Absentminded, she plucked one of the leaves and expertly nibbled away the stingers around the edge before pushing the leaf into her mouth. The act of chewing and the plant’s sharp and refreshing juice rejuvenated her spirits.

The huntress was a sturdy chimp but for a while now she had felt fatigued in a way she had never known before. She was not young anymore and had felt their strenuous rides and battles deep in her bones long after the end of a hunt in recent months. Had the time come at last to bid farewell to her vagrant lifestyle on the back of a horse?

For herself, she had answered that question long ago with a resounding yes. Tinker was getting tired by the exertion, the violence, and the constant pressure her vocation brought with it. Other things had become more important as well: Peace and quiet, a family of her own. Things she had contemptuously disregarded as a young female.

A second leaf went to her mouth.

But the hard reality was that she could not just stop. As a huntress, she had a duty towards the apes of _Water Curtain Cave._ Their entire well-being was dependent on the work of the hunters, who were always too small in numbers. To be a hunter was tied to honor and fame, respect and privileges but it came at a terribly high price.

Movement in her peripheral vision caught Tinker's attention. She squinted and fixed her gaze on some dark spots slowly moving across the treeless plains until they vanished behind one of the many rolling hills. Raptors? Or could it be Rocket and Spear? Tinker waited patiently until the spots reappeared. No doubt about it this time, they were riders, hunters!

Tinker hurriedly shoved a handful of sorrel leaves into the small satchel she wore diagonally across her back before she nimbly abseiled the tree and landed on soft feet next to Caesar who sat on his haunches in front of a shallow basin in the ground and was sharpening their spear-blades with a whetstone. Koba was busy across from him, carefully stacking firewood into a pile in said hollow to build up a fire. The horses were grazing behind him.

“Caesar”, Tinker hailed their leader. “_Spear and Rocket are coming back. No sign of raptors”_, she reported quickly while reaching into her backpack with the other hand and pulling out prickly sorrel leaves for her comrades. Koba took one and ate it with a hum. 

Caesar nodded at her report but continued sharpening their blades without taking any sorrel for himself. Their leader was a master at hiding his thoughts and, as usual, Tinker couldn't tell what he was thinking about. Was he glad that his scouts were returning without raptors on their tails, or was he worried about the strange behavior the reptiles were displaying? Whatever it was, Tinker trusted that Caesar would know how to turn the situation to their advantage. He would bring them home safe and sound.

Night had fallen for real when Rocket and Spear finally reached the camp, each of them carrying a torch. They were dismounting with slow, heavy movements when Caesar stepped up to them. Spear yawned unashamedly and scratched his side, nodding at Caesar before plopping down at the campfire. He fished a half-cooked cassava spud from the edge of the embers and immediately burned his fingers. Koba snickered with glee.

“Glad to see you back”, Caesar said and pressed his knuckles against Rocket's in greeting. “What did you find?”

“_It's only a small pack”,_ Rocket grumbled tiredly before he followed Spear to the fire, trailing his fingers lovingly through Tinker's fur before sitting down next to her. She handed him one of the cassava spuds and started to groom his thinning pelt. “_Counted five animals. Two of them freshly hatched.”_

“Maybe that's the reason why they have been avoiding us?” Caesar mused aloud. “To protect their young?”

Rocket shrugged. “_Maybe. But why aren't they running to the _Fire Mountains _then? They'd be safer there than in the _Lightless Gorge _where they're heading now.”_

Spear poked around his teeth for leftover cassava and grumbled: “_Lightless Gorge_ closer. And raptors breed there. Maybe more raptors hatch soon?”

“Don't like it”, Tinker murmured darkly. “_Don't you think they’re behaving weird, too? They're way too peaceful! Maybe we should stop following them.”_

Caesar noticed the concern underlying Tinker's signs and body language but it was Koba who answered in his stead: “_We can't risk any more hatching. If there are clutches in the _Lightless Gorge _we have to destroy them!”_

“I. Know”, Tinker growled. “_I still have a bad feeling about this!”_

“Better. Bad feeling. Than raptors attacking. _Water Curtain Cave_!” Koba shot back.

The silence between the hunters grew tense. Koba and Tinker glared at each other across the fire, teeth bared and daring the other to make a wrong move.

To the side, Spear scratched his chin and suddenly laughed.

“What. So funny?”, Koba snarled.

“_We should collect and hatch the eggs ourselves, not destroy them. So we can train the baby-raptors like horses. Then Koba can ride on a raptor to a hunt and no lizard will ever dare to come near the _Cave_.”_

Tinker had to stifle a laugh, Rocket rolled his eyes and heaved a dramatic sigh, and Koba looked as if he was going to explode at any moment. Before it could come to that, though, Caesar cut in: “If raptors could be trained so easily, we would've done so already! I'll think about the _Lightless Gorge_ situation and come up with a decision until tomorrow.”

And Caesar did.

After a hearty evening meal, he sat at the fire, a twig between his teeth, and stared into the embers. The night was quiet and he could afford to let his thoughts wander. Though he had pondered the pros and cons of further tracking the raptors at first, his thoughts soon wandered away from gorges and reptiles to Colonel McCullough's scarred back.

He just couldn't forget about the scars. Not because the view had particularly shocked him – Caesar knew after all what kind of scars raptor claws could leave behind – but because he understood now, what had caused them.

_Grenades_.

Before he left for the hunt, he had asked Will what shrapnel was and what he had heard had been enough to raise a strange and troubling feeling in Caesar. The thought that humans used their ingenuity to find the most effective ways possible to kill each other was alien to him and disgusting.

_Ape shall never kill Ape._

That was their credo, the foundation of their society. Something that Caesar had believed to be incontrovertible until the attack on _Alpha_ had shaken his beliefs down to their very core. Was Will right, in the end, when he claimed that apes and humans had a lot in common? But no, that could not be. Apes did not slaughter each other in millions like humans apparently did in their wars.

Grey … Grey had been an isolated case!

Caesar's thoughts returned to McCullough. In regard to him, Caesar didn't doubt that the man had voluntarily become a soldier. The Colonel was arrogant and violent and would challenge a T-Rex without a moment's hesitation. A battlefield had to be like a second home for him! How many humans had he killed? How many humans had been scarred through his hands?

Caesar's fur suddenly stood on end. He clenched his hands to fists.

How many _apes_ had died through the big game hunter's rifle?

Caesar had little compassion for the man but still, something about his reaction in Will's garden didn’t sit right with him. For a hunter like the Colonel, who displayed a raptor's claw like a trophy around his neck, his scars must surely mean triumph and strength. But the exact opposite had been the case. The man had been evasive and had hidden his back under his shirt as Caesar mentioned them to him. Had it really been shame to make him act like that? Or was there more to it? Were the scars reminders of something the Colonel would rather forget? Caesar was curious what the story was behind all of this.

“What Caesar. Thinking about?”

Koba's words disrupted his train of thought. The bonobo had sat down at his back and casually started to groom him. The familiar touch was pleasant and comforting. Hard to believe that the same hands had once injured him in a fit of berserk rage. Caesar's hand rose involuntarily towards the bald patch in his fur but stopped halfway and fell back into his lap. The twig between his lips wandered from one corner of his mouth to the other before the chimp cleared his throat.

“The _Lightless Gorge._ Raptors. Their strange behavior. Maybe they are already gathering to attack the _Cave_ and we have no clue about it.”

“Apes. Can defend self. Not our duty. Our duty. Hunt raptors.”

Caesar hummed in agreement.

“I wonder when the rookies’ll be ready to hunt. Luca does not want to let them go.”

“Luca right. Too early.”

Caesar lowered his head to grant Koba better access to his nape.

“I know. But we've never been so few hunters like now. We need reinforcements. And soon!”

“Hunters strong.”

“Yes.” Caesar smiled. “But tired.”

The bonobo hummed noncommittally. He did not like it when Caesar hinted at that the hunters were apes made of flesh and blood like everyone else. He didn't like even less when, on these occasions, a tiredness stole into Caesar's eyes that had no business being there with a chimp of his age. They were the eyes of an old ape who had lived his life and had seen everything and who wanted nothing more than rest in the heavenly orchard.

The picture Koba had built of Caesar was one of strength. There was no space for weakness, for weariness and concern. If Caesar broke down, what would become of all the other hunters in _Water Curtain Cave_? Their rapidly thinning ranks only held together because Caesar was there to forge them into one unit. The chimpanzee possessed a quiet vigor and charisma, that Koba desperately needed as well as all the others. For Caesar, they would walk through the lava lakes of the Shadow World!

Of course, deep down Koba was tired as well. They _all_ were tired. Being on the road for days on end, the constant danger of raptor-attacks breathing down their necks, was too much for even the sturdiest of persons. But what other choice did they have? If they didn't go out of their way to cull the numbers of raptors, the days of _Water Curtain Cave_ would be numbered.

“Maybe the humans can help? If we had their weapons and their knowledge …”, Caesar followed the train of thought.

“Do not need humans! Apes strong together! Humans bring evil”, Koba interrupted him sharply.

“Maurice would be dead if not for the Colonel”, Caesar countered without thinking.

Koba growled. He did not trust the humans even though they had been peaceful so far. And he trusted the man with the shaved skull, wild beard, and piercing eyes even less. That man's self-assurance was a constant provocation to the bonobo. Humans were liars and cheaters. One must not trust them. Ever! Better to kill them on the spot before they got ideas. Caesar was blind to the danger because he had been raised by a human but he, Koba, would stay vigilant.

Their talk was effectively interrupted by Spear who plopped down next to the fire with a dramatic huff.

“Rocket and Tinker trying to make babies. Again”, he announced and rolled his eyes. Caesar grinned in amusement. “Caesar nothing against it?”

“No. I just wonder why they took so long with that. They're not the youngest anymore.”

“Should sleep! Rest up! Not make babies”, Koba surprisingly agreed with Spear and combed through another spot in Caesar's fur.

“_Exactly!” _Spear's signs were hard to make out in the dim light of the dying fire. “_Hunters shouldn't start families.”_

Caesar took the twig out of his mouth and flicked it into the embers. “Sometimes other things become more important than the hunt.” He clapped Spear encouragingly on the shoulder. “Maybe you'll change your mind, once you're older.”

“Spear older than Caesar!”

All three apes laughed.

“Does Caesar want family?” Spear took up the thread again.

“Now? No. Maybe later.”

“Caesar strong. Many females. Who want to be Caesar's mate.”

Caesar had to laugh about that. “No chimp with any brains in her skull will want to start a family with a hunter. You know that as well as I do. We're never home and each hunt could be our last. No,” Caesar shook his head. “Besides, no one ever seemed interested.”

“Caesar blind”, Koba grumbled sourly and plucked leftover grass and leaves out of Caesar's fur, making the chimp flinch.

“What about Koba? Koba old. Soon dead. Look for mate, before too late” Spear taunted but his words just slid off of the bonobo.

“Koba does not. Need family. Hunter Koba's family. _Caesar_ Koba's family.”

“But Caesar no female.”

“Spear soon female!”, Koba snarled and bared his teeth.

“Enough!” Caesar said, barely able to stifle his laughter. “Save your energy for the raptors or go get a nest if you're so in heat!”

Chimp and bonobo eyed each other with obvious distaste.

“Koba no female”, Spear remarked dryly.

*

The sun had barely risen the next morning when the hunters were already in their saddles and trotted towards the _Lightless Gorge_. Caesar had decided to continue the hunt and, if possible, destroy any clutches they might find in the gorge. The hunters had accepted his decision without complaint. They had given their opinions but their leader did have the last word.

They rode in silence, watching to all sides, but as before no raptor was showing its ugly face.

At midday they arrived at _Lightless Gorge_, a kilometers-long yet barely ten meters wide ravine that had been formed by an earthquake long before any apes had come to the valley. The gorge must have looked to their ancestors as if a giant claw had sliced up the earth down to its bedrock bones. A wound that would never heal.

They left the horses with Tinker.

“_I'll follow up on the ridge and keep you covered with my bow”,_ she said when they parted ways, her comrades starting to climb down into the gorge.

*

Rocket slid down the last part of the slope and dislodged a small avalanche of debris in doing so. Once at the bottom he dusted himself off, coughing, before he took a long look at their forbidding surroundings studded with ragged stone and shadows like the maw of a monster.

The brawny chimp sighed and shrunk down a bit.

_"I hate this place."_

The _Lightless Gorge_ truly lived up to its name. Even now, at midday, with the sun at its zenith, light barely reached the bottom of the canyon. An eternal mist hung heavy over the pockmarked rocky ground, seeped out of rotting heaps of leaves and clung to the misshapen branches of scraggly trees that fought for light down here and just about managed to choke each other. The air was a miasma of mildew and fungi and the sweet stench of rotting flesh.

Caesar scrunched up his nose at the foul odor but he was all too aware of the great advantage they had because it completely covered their scent. Eyes peeled and ears pricked and spear firmly in hand, Caesar finally ventured deeper into the gorge, his hunters closely following behind.

The apes' nerves were pulled tight with apprehension as they inched forward. Behind every turn, behind every boulder, a raptor could lurk. And that made them jumpy. Rocket jerked away from a movement near the ground, stabbing his spear menacingly ahead but it was only a centipede, crawling along through mulch and deadwood. Caesar, on the other hand, was so wound up he was half convinced that he could hear the screech of a raptor in the howling wind. And whenever the elements dislodged some rubble from the canyon's steep walls his fur stood on end.

In addition to that came the arduous path they were taking. Over and over again, their way was blocked by boulders they had to scale. Being apes they had little difficulties with that but the path would have been impossible to tread for their horses.

Koba growled annoyed as he squeezed himself between two giant rocks, relics of a minor landslide, that had almost completely blocked the gorge at this point.

“Koba too fat”, Spear whispered behind him and suppressed a nervous giggle.

Koba ignored the teasing and stubbornly continued to wriggle between the rocks until he finally stumbled into the open where Rocket and Caesar were examining a nest. Leftover eggshells were strewn around and mixed together with the picked clean bones of the one or other raptor hatchling.

Rocket rummaged around the nest with one hand. “_The tracks are old”_, he signed with his other.

Koba paid no mind to the old nest as something else had grabbed the bonobo's attention. He stepped up to the cliff wall and carefully traced along the deep gauges that ran brightly across the darker rock.

“Fresh”, he said with a huff before sniffing his fingertips. “_Raptors.”_

Caesar nodded. “_Then we're on the right track. Let's deal with the pack and their nests and then leg it.”_

A climb and a chokepoint later the walls suddenly broke away. At this point, the gorge was so wide that the rays of the sun actually reached the bottom. They brought with them a smidgen of the tropical warmth that reigned outside.

“_There's a nest.”_

They didn't need Spear's signing – they all had already spotted the conglomerate of twigs, leaves, and rubble that was clinging to the opposite rock wall. Some broken eggshells between the twigs announced that the young raptors had already started to hatch. And still, none of the apes approached the nest. Distrusting, they observed it and its surroundings for several long heartbeats. Dust and pebbles trickled down the steep slopes here and there but apart from that nothing moved.

Caesar ground his teeth nervously. Somewhere in the gorge was a pack of raptors and even if it only consisted of three adults and two hatchlings, it was no laughing matter. He looked up at last, to where he could barely make out Tinker's form at the edge of the gorge and waved at her. She lifted her bow, showing that she had spotted him. Good, everything seemed to be peaceful at the moment. Caesar sniffed the air and let his gaze roam the vertical rock walls and the nest one last time.

No sign of a reptile.

“Let's hurry”, Caesar hissed. “Follow me.”

Spear reached the nest first. His hand went out to one of the eggs when the heap of leaves and twigs suddenly moved and the fang-riddled maw of a raptor shot out of it.

Koba yelled a warning. Caesar grabbed Spear's shoulder to yank him back, but both were too late. The maw closed around Spear's arm, fangs pierced fur, skin and muscle as if the limb was nothing more than a dried-out twig. Bone broke with a crack. A savage jerk and the severed arm hung from the raptor's bloody maw. Spear stared nonplussed at the stump of his arm.

Then came the pain.

Spear howled; a shrill and piercing scream that did not sound simian at all. His legs folded under him and he fell into Caesar's arms who hurriedly dragged the twitching body out of the raptor's reach. Rocket behind him cursed, Koba jumped around them and planted himself in front of the two apes. Teeth bared, fur on end and spear clutched in his hand, the bonobo lunged for the raptor. The lizard dodged easily, flinging Spear’s arm aside with a dismissive shake of its head. It leered at them with triumph in its yellow eyes as it opened its blood-soaked maw and let out a series of short, cut-off shrieks.

And out of the gorge's depths came answering cries.

Time froze as Caesar realized that they had walked directly into the raptors' trap. Shock and an unnatural cold rooted him to spot before Tinker's warning yell came from above and time moved again.

“Raptors!”

“Get out of here!” Caesar yelled and heaved Spear over his shoulder. The chimp was already unconscious. Blood pulsed out of his arm's stump and into Caesar's fur as he started to run, his eyes glued to the path they had come. If only they could reach Tinker and the horses! His gaze shot upwards, searching the sheer cliff walls, calculating the depth of nooks and crannies but no, the vertical walls were impossible to climb! Retreating was the only option open to them, hoping to find a place where they could scale the walls.

But raptors could run so much faster than apes!

Rocket and Koba were guarding Caesar's retreat and jabbed their spears at the raptor, which jumped back and forth between them, snapping its maw. It was obviousy that the reptile would not let go of them voluntarily.

Something buzzed through the air and the raptor staggered backward, one of Tinker's arrows firmly lodged in his chest. Koba reacted instantly and jabbed his spear into the wounded lizard's side, taking it out at last. Once more Tinker's warning came from above. The other raptors were not far off.

Caesar cursed and slowed down for a second, wheezing. Spear was heavy on his back. The chimp's breath rattled and stuttered. Caesar could feel Spear's life flow out of his body together with his blood. He hadn't wanted to admit it to himself but he would not be able to safe Spear. Sudden fury bubbled up inside him - towards the raptors, towards himself and his carelessness, towards the fact that soon nothing would be left of Spear but picked clean bones.

He forced himself to keep walking as a weak shudder went through Spear's body and he became eerily still on Caesar's shoulders, who stopped and stared at the ground at his feet. Then he closed his eyes and took a deep breath and carefully sat Spear down. Leaning against the walls of the gorge, Spear looked peaceful, as if asleep if not for his horrible wound.

Rocket and Koba closed in on him.

“_Caesar …”_

He didn't answer Rocket but pushed through the two apes, lowered himself on all fours and started to run.

It was high time.

Caesar, Rocket, and Koba shot through the canyon, running for their lives. They jumped across boulders, squeezed through narrow fissures, shimmied along ledges and still couldn't find a way up. Too steep were the canyon's walls, too weak the few trees and bushes clinging to the sheer rock to support the weight of a grown ape.

Behind them, raptors poured through the gorge like a tidal wave.

Caesar gasped for air, his knuckles were bloody and raw from running on the rocky underground. Apes were bad long-distance runners – unlike humans – and they could not sustain their current speed for much longer. He dared a look back over his shoulder and instantly wished he hadn't. This was not the pack that had led them on a merry chase in the plains – this was a pack of swarming raptors. The lust to kill was blazing in their yellow eyes, mixed with a malice that made their pursuers seem uncannily intelligent. They would never be able to shake off these raptors!

One of the lizards, a tall and heavy animal with a thick cover of downs on neck and shoulders, had separated from the pack and let out a challenging scream that made Caesar's blood run cold. The raptor had set its eyes on Koba, who had fallen behind and was limping. Whether he had cut the sole of his foot on a sharp rock or had twisted his ankle Caesar could not make out at this distance but the raptor would catch up with the bonobo and would kill him if he didn't do something immediately. Cursing under his breath, Caesar changed direction and sprinted back towards bonobo and raptor. He didn't spare a thought to the fact that he was literally running towards personified death – helping Koba was the only thing of importance right now. Everything else faded into the background: his frantically beating heart, his puffed-up fur, the jagged rock beneath his hands and feet, the dust blowing up into his face. If the raptor had noticed him, it didn't show. All its attention was set on the fleeing Koba.

Caesar's look honed in on a spot where several boulders formed a heap. Instinctively, he ran towards it, was on it in one mighty lunge and pushed himself off it with all his might. He sailed through the air for a moment, clutching his spear in both hands, and landed with full force on the raptor. The reptile howled in shock and pain as Caesar's spear drove between its shoulder blades and it crashed to the ground, pulling the chimpanzee down into a tumble of fangs, fur and feathers. Caesar lost his grip on his spear and for a terrible second all contact to the ground, as he flew through the air and landed so hard that his breath was knocked from his lungs.

He staggered back to his feet, coughing and blinking in surprise as blood started to seep into his eyes from a cut on his forehead. A gurgling growl shifted his attention and he found himself eye-to-eye with a nightmare of teeth and slobber.

He jumped back and knew with sudden clarity that he wouldn't make it.

Tinker's arrow whizzed past him, so close he could feel the draft on his skin, and buried itself into the raptor's throat. The lizard screamed in agony before its cry shifted to a death rattle as it drowned in its own blood.

Without a last look at his dying enemy or an attempt to recover his spear, Caesar threw himself around and galloped away. Tinker shot another arrow from above, hitting another raptor in its flank as it drew too near the fleeing ape. Caesar was as grateful for the female’s aim and steady hand as he had never been before but soon Tinker would run out of arrows and then ...

Creating a cloud of dust, Caesar squeezed through two large boulders, not caring about the abrasions the rock left on his skin. His breath was heaving, arms and legs were heavy as lead. Further up, Rocket and Koba started climbing a part of the cliff walls with just enough ridges and trees to help the apes ascend from the gorge. Rocket waved frantically and continued to climb once he had reassured himself that Caesar had seen them.

Koba had nearly reached the edge of the cliff but stopped now. Bow in hand and an arrow cocked on the string, he crouched on a rock shelf like a huge black caterpillar. Now he was drawing the bow with a steady hand. His arrow shot past Caesar. Behind him a raptor yowled in pain and tumbled to the ground in a cloud of dust. Caesar's fur stood on end. He hadn't realized how close the raptor had come!

But now he had finally reached the foot of the cliff and pulled himself up by the lowest handhold he could reach. This was his forte! Climbing with powerful movements, one hand over the other, one foothold at a time, he reached Koba in no time and dared a look back to the ground. The raptors, there had to be ten animals at least, ran up and down at the foot of the cliff, scratching the rock with their sharp claws that Caesar imagined to see sparks fly. The more aggressive of them even tried to climb after the apes and even managed to gain on them, but Tinker's and Koba's arrows kept them at bay.

At last, one of the largest animals gave a series of short, sharp shrieks and turned towards the the end of the gorge. The other raptors followed after it and it wasn't hard to figure out that the lizards would try to catch their prey outside of the _Lightless Gorge._

“Koba! Up!” Caesar urged.

Soon after the hunters had reached the edge of the gorge. They rested a moment in the grass, wheezing, while Tinker passed a water skin around.

“Must. Ride”, she said and only a tiny quiver in her voice betrayed her fear. Caesar took a deep gulp of water, then jumped on his black horse who was nervously dancing on the spot and flicking its ears. He patted the animal's long neck to calm it down and cast a quick look around at his comrades.

A grim smile played around his lips.

Then he pressed his feet into his horse's flanks and it sprung into a gallop.

And at the mouth of the _Lightless Gorge_, the raptors launched their pursuit.

**Notes for the Chapter:**

> I solemnly swear that I will never again spend hours wikipedia, researching and complaining about the ridiculous, biologist-centered names of tropical neophytes, comparing colours and leaf-shapes just because I need to come up with a name for an entirely fictional plant.  
I profusely apologize to Squickqueen who bore it all with a saintlike patience.


End file.
